Classification of boundary equilibrium bifurcations in planar Filippov systems

If a family of piecewise smooth systems depending on a real parameter is defined on two different regions of the plane separated by a switching surface, then a boundary equilibrium bifurcation occurs if a stationary point of one of the systems intersects the switching surface at a critical value of the parameter. We derive the leading order terms of a normal form for boundary equilibrium bifurcations of planar systems. This makes it straightforward to derive a complete classification of the bifurcations that can occur. We are thus able to confirm classic results of Filippov [Differential Equations with Discontinuous Right Hand Sides (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1988)] using different and more transparent methods, and explain why the ‘missing’ cases of Hogan et al. [Piecewise Smooth Dynamical Systems: The Case of the Missing Boundary Equilibrium Bifurcations (University of Bristol, 2015)] are the only cases omitted in more recent work.