Properties of Poincaré half-maps for planar linear systems and some direct applications to periodic orbits of piecewise systems

This paper deals with fundamental properties of Poincaré half-maps defined on a straight line for planar linear systems. Concretely, we focus on the analyticity of the Poincaré half-maps, their series expansions (Taylor and Newton–Puiseux) at the tangency point and at infinity, the relative position between the graph of Poincaré half-maps and the bisector of the fourth quadrant, and the sign of their second derivatives. All these properties are essential to understand the dynamic behavior of planar piecewise linear systems. Accordingly, we also provide some of their most immediate, but non-trivial, consequences regarding periodic orbits.