Polynomial Hamiltonian systems with a nilpotent critical point Original Research Article

The study of Hamiltonian systems is important for space physics and astrophysics. In this paper, we study local behavior of an isolated nilpotent critical point for polynomial Hamiltonian systems. We prove that there are exact three cases: a center, a cusp or a saddle. Then for quadratic and cubic Hamiltonian systems we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for a nilpotent critical point to be a center, a cusp or a saddle. We also give phase portraits for these systems under some conditions of symmetry.