A new approach to the Poincaré center problem

Abstract

We address the classical (degenerate or non-degenerate) center problem posed by Poincaré in the 19th century for monodromic singularities of analytic families of planar vector fields $\mathcal{X}$. We prove that, generically, every analytic center admits a Laurent inverse integrating factor $V$ in weighted polar coordinates. Moreover, we show that when $\mathcal{X}$ has no local curves of zero angular speed, the Poincaré map is analytic. Based on this result, we derive a theoretical procedure to determine parameter constraints within the family that characterize centers without curves of zero angular speed. Applications to nontrivial families that have resisted other methods are also provided.