Normal Forms, Melnikov Functions and Bifurcations of Limit Cycles

Dynamical system theory has developed rapidly over the past fifty years. It is a subject upon which the theory of limit cycles has a significant impact for both theoretical advances and practical solutions to problems. Hopf bifurcation from a center or a focus  is integral to the theory of bifurcation of limit cycles, for which normal form theory is a central tool. Although Hopf bifurcation has be...