A Sharp Bound of Crossing Limit Cycle for Planar piecewise linear Systems with a Straight Switching Line

Abstract

Determining the maximum number of crossing limit cycles in planar discontinuous piecewise linear systems separated by a straight line is a central problem in nonsmooth dynamical systems and a natural piecewise-linear counterpart of Hilbert's sixteenth problem, yet its sharp uniform upper bound has long remained an open problem. In this paper, we prove that any such system admits at most three crossing limit cycles. Combined with known examples realizing three crossing limit cycles, this result establishes that three is the sharp uniform upper bound.