We study the center-focus problem as well as the number of limit cycles which bifurcate from a weak focus for several families of planar discontinuous ordinary differential equations. Our computations of the return map near the critical point are performed with a new method based on a suitable decomposition of certain one-forms associated with the expression of the system in polar coordinates. This decomposition simplifies all the expressions involved in the procedure. Finally, we apply our results to study a mathematical model of a mechanical problem, the movement of a ball between two elastic walls.
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Gasull et al. (2003) studied this question.