Perturbation analysis of the limit cycle of the free van der Pol equation

A power series expansion in the damping parameter, epsilon, of the limit cycle of the free van der Pol equation is constructed and analyzed. Coefficients in the expansion are computed in exact rational arithmetic using the symbolic manipulation system MACSYMA and using a FORTRAN program. The series is analyzed using Padeapproximants. The convergence of the series for the maximum amplitude of the limit cycle is limited by two pair of complex conjugate singularities in the complex epsilon-plane. A new expansion parameter is introduced which maps these singularities to infinity and leads to a new expansion for the amplitude which converges for all real values of epsilon. Amplitudes computed from this transformed series agree very well with reported numerical and asymptotic results. For the limit cycle itself, convergence of the series expansion is limited by three pair of complex conjugate branch point singularities. Two pair remain fixed throughout the cycle, and correspond to the singularities found in the maximum amplitude series, while the third pair moves in the epsilon-plane as a function of t from one of the fixed pairs to the other. The limit cycle series is transformed using a new expansion parameter, which leads to a new series that converges for larger values of epsilon.