The number of limit cycles of piecewise linear Li\'enard systems

Abstract

For the planar Li\'{e}nard differential system $\dot{x}=F(x)-y$, $\dot{y}=x$, where $F(x)$ is a piecewise linear function, Tonnelier (SIAM J. Appl. Math., 2002) conjectured that the maximum number of limit cycles of the system is $n$ when $F(x)$ has $n$ fold points and no jump points, and $2n$ when $F(x)$ has $n$ jump points and no fold points. This conjecture was confirmed by Llibre et al. (J. Nonlinear Sci., 2015) (resp. Chen et al. (J. London Math. Soc., 2026a)) when $F(x)$ has one fold point and no jump points (resp. two fold points). More recently, Chen et al. (J. London Math. Soc., 2026b) proved that the conjecture is correct when $F(x)$ has no fold points and one jump point. All other cases remain open. Here we verify that the lower bound for the maximum number of limit cycles of the system can be $n$ when $F(x)$ has only $n$ fold points, and $2n$ when $F(x)$ has only $n$ jump points, thereby confirming the lower bound part of Tonnelier's conjecture. Moreover, when $F(x)$ has $m$ jump points and $n-m$ fold points, $0\le m\le n$, we also show that the system can have $n+m=(n-m)+2m$ limit cycles. In addition, a complete classification of the {dynamics} near infinity for this class of systems is provided.