Monodromic nilpotent singular points with odd Andreev number and the center problem

Abstract

Given a nilpotent singular point of a planar vector field, its monodromy is associated with its Andreev number $n$. The parity of $n$ determines whether the existence of an inverse integrating factor implies that the singular point is a nilpotent center. For $n$ odd, this is not always true. We give a characterization for a family of systems having Andreev number $n$ such that the center problem cannot be solved by the inverse integrating factor method. Moreover, we study general properties of this family, determining necessary center conditions for every $n$ and solving the center problem in the case $n=3$.