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Trends in Mathematics
Research Perspectives CRM Barcelona Vol.10

Andrei Korobeinikov
Editor

Extended
Abstracts
Summer 2016
Slow-Fast Systems and Hysteresis:
Theory and Applications
Trends in Mathematics

Research Perspectives CRM Barcelona

Volume 10

Series editor
Enric Ventura

Since 1984 the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM) has been organizing scien-
tific events such as conferences or workshops which span a wide range of
cutting-edge topics in mathematics and present outstanding new results. In the fall
of 2012, the CRM decided to publish extended conference abstracts originating
from scientific events hosted at the center. The aim of this initiative is to quickly
communicate new achievements, contribute to a fluent update of the state of the art,
and enhance the scientific benefit of the CRM meetings. The extended abstracts are
published in the subseries Research Perspectives CRM Barcelona within the Trends
in Mathematics series. Volumes in the subseries will include a collection of revised
written versions of the communications, grouped by events.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13332


Andrei Korobeinikov
Editor

Extended Abstracts
Summer 2016
Slow-Fast Systems and Hysteresis: Theory
and Applications
Editor
Andrei Korobeinikov
Centre de Recerca Matemàtica
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain

ISSN 2297-0215 ISSN 2297-024X (electronic)


Trends in Mathematics
ISSN 2509-7407 ISSN 2509-7415 (electronic)
Research Perspectives CRM Barcelona
ISBN 978-3-030-01152-9 ISBN 978-3-030-01153-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01153-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018958341

Mathematics Subject Classification (2010): 34-06, 35-06, 37-06, 39-06, 74-06, 76-06, 78-06, 92-06

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
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Preface

This volume of Trends in Mathematics: Research Perspectives CRM Barcelona


brings to your attention a selection of short papers based on the presentations that were
given at the joint 8th International Workshop on MUlti-Rate Processes and
HYSteresis (MURPHYS) and 3rd International Workshop on Hysteresis and
Slow-Fast Systems (HSFS). The workshops were hosted by the Centre de Recerca
Matemàtica, Barcelona, from June 13 to 17, 2016. The MURPHYS-HSFS-2016
meeting is the continuation of a successful series of biennial multidisciplinary
conferences on multi-rate processes and hysteresis, where the previous meetings took
place in Cork (Ireland, 2002–2008), Pécs (Hungary, 2010), Suceava (Romania, 2012)
and Berlin (Germany, 2014), as well as a series of workshops on hysteresis and
slow–fast systems that was hosted in Lutherstadt Wittenberg and Berlin.
The MURPHYS-HSFS-2016 workshop is dedicated to the mathematical theory
and applications of multiple scale systems, systems with hysteresis and recent trends
in dynamical systems. The workshop brought together more than 30 researchers
from Europe, USA and Russia who work on hysteresis and multi-scale phenomena.
The participants shared and discussed recent developments of analytical techniques
in several areas of common interest. Topics in this volume include the analysis of
hysteresis phenomena, multiple scale systems, self-organizing nonlinear systems,
singular perturbations and critical phenomena, as well as applications of hysteresis
and the theory of singularly perturbed systems to fluid dynamics, chemical kinetics,
cancer and population modelling, mathematical economics and control. This volume
is intended to give an opportunity to the contributors to quickly communicate their
latest research findings: Most of its articles are brief preliminary summaries pre-
senting new results that have not yet been published in regular research journals.

v
vi Preface

We are happy to acknowledge the support from AGAUR of the Generalitat de


Catalunya, of the CERCA programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya, of the
Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, and of the German Collaborative Research Center
910 (Control of Self-organizing Nonlinear Systems). We also would like to express
our gratitude to the CRM management and members of administrative staff, whose
enthusiastic work contributed a lot to the success of the workshop.

Barcelona, Spain Andrei Korobeinikov


October 2018
Contents

Optimisation of a Lead Sulphate Settling Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1


Vincent Cregan and William T. Lee
Localizing Limit Cycles: From Numeric to Analytical Results . . . . . . . . 7
Armengol Gasull, Héctor Giacomini and Maite Grau
Odd Number Theorem for Equivariant Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Edward Hooton, Pavel Kravetc and Dmitrii Rachinskii
The Duhem Model and Hysteresis: A Symbiotic Relationship? . . . . . . . 19
Fayçal Ikhouane
A Model of Marine Bacteriophage Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Andrei Korobeinikov and Silvia Pagliarini
Nonlinearization and Waves in Bounded Media: Old Wine
in a New Bottle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Michael P. Mortell and Brian R. Seymour
An Asymptotic Analysis of the Laminar-Turbulent Transition
of Yield Stress Fluids in Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Tim G. Myers, Sarah L. Mitchell and Paul Slatter
Fronts in Reaction-Diffusion-Advection Problems:
Periodic Motion and Blow-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Nikolay Nefedov
Order Reduction of Kalman–Bucy Filter for Systems
with Low Measurement Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Mikhail Osintcev and Vladimir A. Sobolev
Order Reduction for a Model of Bacteriophage Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Silvia Pagliarini and Andrei Korobeinikov

vii
viii Contents

A Model of Probabilistic Hysteretic Switching in Organizations . . . . . . 59


Luís Rios, Rod Cross and Dmitrii Rachinskii
Meshless Methods for ‘Gas - Evaporating Droplet’
Flow Modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Oyuna Rybdylova and Sergei S. Sazhin
Delayed Stability Loss Scenarios for a Slow Integral
Manifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Elena Shchepakina
Critical Phenomena in a Dynamic Model of Electrocatalytic
Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Elena Shchepakina and Natalia Firstova
Thrice Critical Case in Singularly Perturbed Control
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Vladimir A. Sobolev
A Mathematical Model of Cancer Evolutionary Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Paul A. Valle, Konstantin E. Starkov and Andrei Korobeinikov
Asymptotic Solution for a Biped Walker Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Sergey A. Yudaev, Dmitrii Rachinskii and Vladimir A. Sobolev
The Generalized Poisson–Nernst–Planck System
with Nonlinear Interface Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Anna V. Zubkova
Optimisation of a Lead Sulphate
Settling Process

Vincent Cregan and William T. Lee

Abstract A model for the growth of lead sulphate particles in a gravity separation
system from the crystal glassware industry is presented. The lead sulphate particles
are an undesirable byproduct, and thus the model is used to ascertain the optimal
system temperature configuration such that particle extraction is maximised. The
model describes the evolution of a single, spherical particle due to the mass flux of
lead particles from a surrounding acid solution. We divide the concentration field into
two separate regions. Specifically, a relatively small boundary layer region around
the particle is characterised by fast diffusion, and is thus considered quasi-static. In
contrast, diffusion in the far-field is slower, and hence assumed to be time-dependent.
The final system consisting of two nonlinear, coupled ordinary differential equations
for the particle radius and lead concentration, is integrated numerically.

1 Introduction

Particle settling is a technique used to separate liquid suspensions into one or more
of its constitutive solid components by the action of gravity. We consider a settling
technique used to extract lead sulphate particles in acid polishing of lead crystal
glassware. We propose a model for the evolution of a single, spherical lead sulphate
particle due to the mass flux of lead particles from the surrounding acid solution.
The model is used to identify an optimal temperature regime for which lead sulphate
extraction is maximised.

V. Cregan (B)
Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Barcelona, Spain
e-mail: vincent.cregan@gmail.com
W. T. Lee
Department of Computer Science, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK
e-mail: w.Lee@hud.ac.uk

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 1


A. Korobeinikov (ed.), Extended Abstracts Summer 2016,
Trends in Mathematics 10, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01153-6_1
2 V. Cregan and W. T. Lee

Chemical reactions between the acids and glass result in the formation of an
insoluble lead sulphate layer at the glass surface. This layer obstructs the solution
from reaching the glass, and hence the polishing performance deteriorates over time.
Growth of the layer is counteracted by rinsing the glass regularly in an acidic-water
solution. After rinsing, the acid solution is pumped into a settlement tank where the
solution cools and the lead sulphate particles settle out. However, the temperature
decrease in the solution causes the lead sulphate solubility to decrease, and thus small
lead sulphate particles precipitate out of solution. Process time constraints result in
not all of the small lead sulphate particles having sufficient time to settle. Hence,
when the solution is reused for polishing, the presence of lead sulphate in solution
results in the reformation of the layer around the glassware.
We propose a model for the evolution of a single, spherical lead sulphate particle
due to the mass flux of lead particles from the surrounding acid solution. The model
is used to identify an optimal temperature regime for which lead sulphate extraction
is maximised. Previous optimisation studies of particle settling systems have focused
mainly on the physical design of the settlement tank [3] and the fluid flow regime [1].
Via homogeneous nucleation theory, we suggest a temperature configuration which
promotes the growth of existing lead sulphate particles and the dissolution of new,
smaller particles.

2 Model

We consider a single, spherical lead sulphate particle with radius r p (t) growing with
time t; see Fig. 1. We assume that the region around the particle can be approximated
by two subregions, namely a relatively small diffusion region in contact with the
particle and a larger far field well-mixed region. The radii of the diffusion and well-
mixed regions are rd and rd , respectively. Via Prandtl’s boundary layer theory, the

Fig. 1 Lead sulphate


Well Mixed
particle and surrounding Region
regions
Diffusion
Region rw
rp
C w (t) C d (r)
δ
rd

Lead sulphate nucleus


Optimisation of a Lead Sulphate Settling Process 3

width of the diffusion region is δ = rw − rd ≈ 10−4 m. The solution is presumed to


be sufficiently dilute such that particle interactions are negligible.
Assuming that the solution has an initial, constant lead concentration, C0 , the
governing equations are
   
∂Cd D ∂ 2 ∂C d ∂Cw D ∂ 2 ∂C w
= 2 r , = 2 r , (1)
∂t r ∂r ∂r ∂t r ∂r ∂r

where Cd and Cw are the concentrations in the diffusion and well-mixed regions,
respectively, r is the radial coordinate and D is the diffusion coefficient for the lead
atoms. At the interface of the two regions, at r = rd ,

∂Cw ∂Cd 
Cd (rd ) = Cw (rd ) , Vw = −4πrd2 D , (2)
∂t ∂r r =rd

where Vw is the volume of the well-mixed region. The first condition represents
lead concentration continuity, whilst the latter accounts for lead atoms diffusing
between both regions. To complete the model we prescribe the Stefan condition and
the Ostwald–Freundlich condition for the particle solubility:
  
dr p ∂Cd  2σVM
= DVM , Cd |r =r p = C E Q (T ) exp , (3)
dt ∂r r =r p RG T r p

where VM is molar volume, σ is surface tension, RG is the universal gas constant and
T is temperature. The equilibrium concentration C E Q (T ) = A exp (BT ) (where A ≈
2 × 10−6 mol m−3 , B ≈ 0.03 K−1 ) is obtained by fitting with appropriate data [2].
To simplify the problem, we analyse the model time scales. We define the diffusion
and well-mixed region length scales Rd and Rw , respectively, where we assume
Rw  Rd . From (1), the diffusion region time scale is τd ∼ Rd2 /D and the second
condition in (2) gives the well-mixed region diffusion time scale is τw ∼ Rw3 /(D Rd ).
The ratio of the two time scales yields Rw3 /Rd3  1, which implies that lead diffusion
occurs more rapidly in the diffusion region compared to the well-mixed region.
Thus, to reduce the model we assume that the concentration in the diffusion region
is quasi-static (i.e., Cd ≡ Cd (r )). In the well-mixed region we presume that the
concentration is independent of position (i.e., C W ≡ C W (t)). Hence, the simplified
diffusion equations are
 
D d dCd dCw
r2 = 0, = 0. (4)
r 2 dr dr dt

3 Solution

Solving the first equation from (4) yields


4 V. Cregan and W. T. Lee
   
1 2σVM
Cd (r ) = rd (r p − r )Cw − C E Q exp r p (rd − r ) , (5)
r (r p − rd ) RG T r p

where (2) and (3) were applied. Substituting (5) into the second condition in (2) gives
   
dCw 4 rd r p D 2σVM
= − C E Q exp − Cw . (6)
dt Vw (r p − rd ) RG T r p

The particle radius equation is obtained by introducing (5) into the Stefan condition
(3) to give    
dr p DVM rd 2σVM
= C EQ
exp − Cw . (7)
dt r p (r p − rd ) RG T r p

Finally, from [4], the particle critical radius is rc = (2σVM )/(RG T ln (Cw /C E Q ))
where the particle grows if r p > rc and dissolves if r p < rc . Hence, rc serves as a cri-
terion for whether particles grow or dissolve, and is used to ascertain the effectiveness
of the settling process.
To investigate how temperature impacts particle settling we consider three differ-
ent temperature configurations. To model current operating conditions, we let T = T1
(i.e., the tank temperature). We study the effect of cooling the solution at slower rates
via two monotonically decreasing time-dependent temperature functions

T0 + (T1 − T0 )t/τ t ≤τ,
if
TL = (8)
T1 if t ≥ τ ,
 
t
TE = T1 − (T1 − T0 ) erfc , (9)
τ

where T0 is the initial solution temperature, τ is a characteristic diffusion time scale


for the constant temperature problem and erfc is the complementary error function.
Figures 2(a) and 2(b) show numerical solutions for the particle radius and critical
radius respectively, subject to a constant temperature (blue), the linear temperature
function (green) and the error temperature function (red). The particle grows due to
the flux of lead atoms, and thus the concentration in the well-mixed region decreases.
Particle growth ceases after three units of dimensionless time (or approximately
11.5 h) when a dynamic equilibrium between the particle and the lead atoms in the
solution is reached. We note that there is only a minimal increase in the particle size
and a negligible difference between the three temperature configurations.
The critical radius curves divide the regions which support particle growth (above
curves) and dissolution (below curves). At the beginning of the settling process
the time-dependent temperature configurations out perform the constant tempera-
ture regime with respect to particle growth. The constant temperature critical radius
curve is monotonically increasing whilst the other curves are not. For the constant
temperature case, as the solution initially enters the tank its temperature decreases
rapidly. This causes the lead sulphate solubility to decrease dramatically, and thus
Optimisation of a Lead Sulphate Settling Process 5

x 10−4
(a) 1.02 (b) 6
Constant temperature
Error temperature function
Linear temperature function
5
1.015

Critical radius rc
4

1.01
rp

2
1.005
Constant temperature
Error temperature function 1
Linear temperature function

1 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
t t

Fig. 2 a Lead sulphate particle radius; b dimensionless critical radius

the initial particle critical radius drops instantaneously to its minimum value. On the
other hand, for the time-dependent temperature cases, the acid solution is subject
to a slower cooling regime. Hence, the lead sulphate solubility limit decreases at a
slower rate and reaches it minimum after approximately 0.7 units of dimensionless
time (or 2.7 h). As the settling process proceeds to this point and beyond where the
constant temperature curve intersects with the other two curves, we can see that the
constant temperature configuration is an improvement on the other two temperature
regimes.

4 Discussion

Our aim was to study how temperature impacts a lead sulphate particle settling pro-
cess. We showed that the settlement tank temperature should be reduced slowly to
remove additional lead sulphate from the acid solution. The time-dependent temper-
ature configurations improved on the constant temperature case near the start of the
process as particles had difficulty overcoming the critical energy barrier. However,
as settling progresses the performance of the constant temperature configuration was
shown to be the best. Hence, a combination of the discussed configurations should
be applied. The time required for the particles to reach their final size is of the order
hours. Thus, one simple strategy would be to allow the acid solution to sit overnight
to maximise lead sulphate extraction.

Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Mathematics Appli-


cations Consortium for Science and Industry (http://www.macsi.ul.ie) supported by a Science Foun-
dation Ireland mathematics initiative grant 06/MI/005.
6 V. Cregan and W. T. Lee

References

1. A.G. Boon, J.F. Dolan, Design of settlement tanks and the use of chemicals to aid precipitation
of suspended solids. J. Chart. Inst. Water E 9, 57–68 (1995)
2. H.D. Crockford, D.J. Brawley, The solubility of lead sulfate in water and aqueous solutions of
sulphuric acid. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 56, 2600–2601 (1934)
3. J.M. Montgomery, Water Treatment: Principles and Design (Wiley, 1985)
4. J. Park, J. Joo, S.G. Kwon, Y. Jang, T. Hyeon, Synthesis of monodisperse spherical nanocrystals.
Angew. Chem-Ger. Edit. 46, 4630–4660 (2007)
Localizing Limit Cycles: From Numeric
to Analytical Results

Armengol Gasull, Héctor Giacomini and Maite Grau

Abstract This note presents the results of [4]. It deals with the problem of location
and existence of limit cycles for real planar polynomial differential systems. We
provide a method to construct Poincaré–Bendixson regions by using transversal
curves, that enables us to prove the existence of a limit cycle that has been numerically
detected. We apply our results to several known systems, like the Brusselator one or
some Liénard systems, to prove the existence of the limit cycles and to locate them
very precisely in the phase space. Our method, combined with some other classical
tools can be applied to obtain sharp bounds for the bifurcation values of a saddle-node
bifurcation of limit cycles, as we do for the Rychkov system.

1 Introduction

We consider real planar polynomial differential systems of the form

ẋ = d x/dt = P(x, y), ẏ = dy/dt = Q(x, y), (1)

A. Gasull (B)
Departament de Matemàtiques, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,
08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
e-mail: gasull@mat.uab.cat
H. Giacomini
Laboratoire de Mathématiques et Physique Théorique. C.N.R.S. UMR 7350.,
Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université de Tours., Parc de Grandmont,
37200 Tours, France
e-mail: Hector.Giacomini@lmpt.univ-tours.fr
M. Grau
Departament de Matemàtica, Universitat de Lleida, Avda. Jaume II, 69,
25001 Lleida, Catalonia, Spain
e-mail: mtgrau@matematica.udl.cat

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 7


A. Korobeinikov (ed.), Extended Abstracts Summer 2016,
Trends in Mathematics 10, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01153-6_2
8 A. Gasull et al.

where P(x, y) and Q(x, y) are real polynomials. We denote by X = (P, Q) the
vector field associated to (1) and z = (x, y). So, (1) can be written as ż = X (z).
When dealing with system (1) one of the main problems is to determine the number
and location of its limit cycles. Recall that a limit cycle is an isolated periodic orbit of
the system. For a given vector field, when it is not very near of a bifurcation, the limit
cycles can usually be detected by numerical methods. A bifurcation is a qualitative
change in the behaviour of a vector field as a parameter of the system is varied. This
phenomenon can involve a change in the stability of a limit cycle or the creation or
destruction of one or more limit cycles. If a periodic orbit is stable (unstable), then
forward (backward) numerical integration of a trajectory with an initial condition
in its basin of attraction will converge to the periodic orbit as t → ∞ (t → −∞).
Once for a given vector field a limit cycle is numerically detected there is no general
method to rigourously prove its existence. In this talk we present a procedure to
do it. The method is based on a corollary of the Poincaré–Bendixson theorem, the
so called Poincaré–Bendixson annular Criterion see for instance [3, 8] and also
Theorem 1. It is very useful to prove the existence of a limit cycle and to give a
region where it is located. However, it is hardly found in applications due to the
difficulty of constructing the boundaries of a suitable annular region. Our aim is
to give a constructive procedure for finding transversal curves which define these
annular Poincaré–Bendixson regions and, as a consequence, to prove the existence
of limit cycles that have been numerically detected.
As usual, we will say that a smooth curve C = {z(s) = (x(s), y(s)) : s ∈ I ⊂
R}, is transversal with respect to the flow given by (1) if the scalar product

X (z(s)) · (z  (s))⊥ = P (z(s)) y  (s) − Q (z(s)) x  (s)

does not change sign and vanishes only on finitely many contact points when s ∈ I.
A contact point with the flow given by (1) is a point z(s) such that the tangent vector
to C at this point, z  (s) is parallel to X (z(s)). When the above scalar product does
not vanish we will say that the curve is strictly transversal.
A transversal section of system (1) is an arc of a curve without contact points.
Given a limit cycle  there always exist a transversal section  which can be param-
eterized by r ∈ (−ρ, ρ) with ρ > 0 and r = 0 corresponding to a common point
between  and . Given r ∈ (−ρ, ρ), we consider the flow of system (1) with initial
point the one corresponding to r and we follow this flow for positive values of t. It
can be shown, see for instance [8], that for ρ small enough, the flow cuts  again at
some point corresponding to the parameter P(r ). The map r −→ P(r ) is called the
Poincaré map associated to the limit cycle  of system (1). It is clear that P(0) = 0.
If P  (0) = 1, the limit cycle  is said to be hyperbolic. A classical result, see for
instance [8], states that if  = {γ(t) : t ∈ [0, T )}, where γ(t) is the parametrization
of the limit cycle in the time variable t of system (1) and T > 0 is the period of ,
that is, the lowest positive value for which γ(0) = γ(T ), and γ(0) =  ∩ , then
 T 
P  (0) = exp div X (γ(t)) dt ,
0
Localizing Limit Cycles: From Numeric to Analytical Results 9

where
∂P ∂Q
div X (x, y) = (x, y) + (x, y)
∂x ∂y

is the divergence of X . Hence,


 T
k := div X (γ(t)) dt = 0
0

is the condition for a limit cycle  to be hyperbolic. It is clear that if k > 0 (resp.,
k < 0), then  is an unstable (resp., stable) limit cycle.
The Poincaré–Bendixson Theorem, which can be found for instance in [3, Sect.
1.7] or in [8, Sect. 3.7], has as a corollary the following result:

Theorem 1 (Poincaré–Bendixson annular Criterion). Suppose that R is a finite


region of the plane R2 lying between two C 1 simple disjoint closed curves C1 and
C2 . If
(i) the curves C1 and C2 are transversal for system (1) and the flow crosses them
towards the interior of R, and
(ii) R contains no critical points,
then (1) has an odd number of limit cycles (counted with multiplicity) lying inside R.

In such a case, we say that R is a Poincaré–Bendixson annular region for


system (1).

2 Main Results

In the present work we give an answer to the following question: if one numeri-
cally knows the existence of a hyperbolic limit cycle, can one analytically prove the
existence of such limit cycle?
The following theorem is a key result. It gives the theoretical basis of the method
described used in [4] to answer positively the above question.

Theorem 2 Let  = {(γ(t) : t ∈ [0, T ]} be a T -periodic hyperbolic limit cycle


of (1), parameterized by the time t. Define z̃ ε (t) = γ(t) + εũ(t)(γ  (t))⊥ , where
 t 
1
ũ(t) = 
exp div X (γ(s)) ds − κ t > 0
||γ (t)||2 0

T
and κ = Tk = T1 0 div X (γ(t)) dt. Then, the curve {z̃ ε (t) : t ∈ [0, T ]} is T -periodic
and, for |ε| > 0 small enough, it is strictly transversal to the flow associated to
system (1).
10 A. Gasull et al.

Notice that as a consequence of the above result, the curve z̃ ε (t) is a transversal
oval close to the limit cycle  for |ε| > 0 small enough, which is inside or outside
it depending on the sign of ε. The effective method for obtaining explicit Poincaré–
Bendixson annular regions consists on following steps:
• Step 1: Find numerically the limit cycle.
• Step 2: Fix ε and use step 1 and Theorem 2 to find a numerical transversal curve.
• Step 3: Check numerically if the proposed curve is transversal. If yes, continue; if
not, choose a smaller |ε|, with the same sign, and return to step 2.
• Step 4: Fix m ∈ N and approach, by interpolation, the curve given in step 2 by a
couple of trigonometric polynomials of degree m.
• Step 5: Convert the above trigonometric polynomials to trigonometric polynomials
with rational coefficients, close enough to the original ones.
• Step 6: Check analytically, with algebraic tools, if the curve given in step 5 is
transversal. If yes, one of the boundaries of a Poincaré–Bendixson annular region
is found and we have to start again the algorithm, with ε of different sign, to find
the other boundary. If not, we have to choose a bigger m and return to step 4.
As an illustration of the effectiveness of our approach in [4] we apply it to locate the
limit cycles in two celebrated planar differential systems, the van der Pol oscillator
and the Brusselator system. We also we give there an explanation for the different
level of difficulty for studying both limit cycles. It is hidden in the sizes of the
respective Fourier coefficients of the two limit cycles, see [4, Theorem. 6]. That
theorem also shows that our approach for detecting strictly transversal closed curves
always works in finitely many steps.
Finally, to show the applicability of the method to detect bifurcation values, we
use it to find a sharp interval for the bifurcation value for a saddle-node bifurcation
of limit cycles for the Rychkov system. Recall that a saddle-node bifurcation of limit
cycles occurs when a stable limit cycle and an unstable limit cycle coalesce and
become a double semi-stable limit cycle.
In 1975 Rychkov [9] proved that the system
 
ẋ = y − x 5 − μx 3 + δx , ẏ = −x,

with δ, μ ∈ R, has at most two limit cycles. Moreover, it is known that it has two
limit cycles if and only if δ > 0 and 0 < δ < (μ), for some unknown function .
For the value δ = (μ) the system has a double limit cycle and, varying δ, it presents
a saddle-node bifurcation of limit cycles. This system is also studied by Alsholm [1]
and Odani [7]. In particular Odani proved that (μ) > μ2 /5. Here we will fix our
attention on δ ∗ := (1). Notice that Odani’s result implies that δ ∗ > 1/5 = 0.2. We
prove:
Theorem 3 Let δ = δ ∗ be the value for which the Rychkov system
 
ẋ = y − x 5 − x 3 + δx , ẏ = −x

has a semi-stable limit cycle. Then 0.224 < δ ∗ < 0.225.


Localizing Limit Cycles: From Numeric to Analytical Results 11

The lower bound for δ ∗ can be proved by using the tools introduced in this work.
The upper bound is proved by constructing a polynomial function in (x, y) of very
high degree such that its total derivative with respect to the vector field does not
change sign. This method is proposed and already developed for general classical
Liénard systems by Cherkas [2] and also by Giacomini–Neukirch [5, 6].

Acknowledgements The first author is partially supported by Spanish Government with the grant
MTM2013-40998-P and by Generalitat de Catalunya Government with the grant 2014SGR568. The
second and third authors are partially supported by a MINECO/FEDER grant number MTM2014-
53703-P and by an AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya) grant number 2014SGR1204.

References

1. P. Alsholm, Existence of limit cycles for eneralized Liénard equations. J. Math. Anal. Appl.
171, 242–255 (1977)
2. L.A. Cherkas, Estimation of the number of limit cycles of autonomous systems. Differ. Uravn.
13, 779–802 (1977); translation in Differ. Equ. 13, 529–547 (1977)
3. F. Dumortier, J. Llibre, J.C. Artés, Qualitative Theory of Planar Differential Systems (Univer-
sitext, Springer, Berlin, 2006)
4. A. Gasull, H. Giacomini, M. Grau, Effective construction of Poincaré–Bendixson regions. J.
Appl. Anal. Comp. 7, 1549–1569 (2017)
5. H. Giacomini, S. Neukirch, Number of limit cycles of the Liénard equation. Phys. Rev. E 56,
3809–3813 (1997)
6. H. Giacomini, S. Neukirch, Algebraic approximations to bifurcation curves of limit cycles for
the Liénard equation. Phys. Lett. A 244, 53–58 (1998)
7. K. Odani, Existence of exactly N periodic solutions for Liénard systems. Funkcial. Ekvac. 39,
217–234 (1996)
8. L.M. Perko, "Differential equations and dynamical systems", third edition, Texts in Applied
Mathematics, 7 (Springer-Verlag, New York, 2001)
9. G.S. Rychkov, The maximum number of limit cycles of polynomial Liénard systems of degree
five is equal to two. Differ. Equ. 11, 301–302 (1975)
Odd Number Theorem for Equivariant
Systems

Edward Hooton, Pavel Kravetc and Dmitrii Rachinskii

Abstract Various versions of Odd Number Theorem state necessary conditions


for stabilizing an unstable periodic solution to a differential equation by Pyragas’
delayed feedback control. In this paper, we propose an equivariant counterpart of
these conditions for systems with a finite symmetry group.

1 Introduction

Stabilization of unstable periodic solutions is an important problem in applied non-


linear sciences. An elegant method suggested by Pyragas [6] is to introduce delayed
feedback with the delay equal, or close, to the period T of the target unstable periodic
solution x ∗ (t) to the uncontrolled system ẋ(t) = f (t, x(t)). This feedback control
is typically linear, and the controlled system has the form

ẋ(t) = f (t, x(t)) + K (x(t − T ) − x(t)), x ∈ Rn , (1)

where K is an n × n gain matrix. Pyragas control is often referred to as non-invasive,


since x ∗ (t) is an exact solution of both the uncontrolled and controlled systems if the
delay exactly equals the period of x ∗ . The question is how to choose the gain matrix
K to ensure that x ∗ is a stable solution of (1).
Certain limitations to the method of Pyragas are known. It was proved in [4] that
if f depends explicitly on t and the target periodic solution x ∗ of the uncontrolled
non-autonomous system is hyperbolic with an odd number of real Floquet multipliers
greater than one, then for any choice of K , the function x ∗ is an unstable solution
of (1). In [2], this theorem was modified to deal with the case of autonomous systems

E. Hooton (B) · P. Kravetc · D. Rachinskii


Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, USA
e-mail: exh121730@utdallas.edu
P. Kravetc
e-mail: pxk142530@utdallas.edu
D. Rachinskii
e-mail: dmitry.rachinskiy@utdallas.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 13
A. Korobeinikov (ed.), Extended Abstracts Summer 2016,
Trends in Mathematics 10, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01153-6_3
14 E. Hooton et al.

ẋ(t) = f (x(t)) + K (x(t − T ) − x(t)). (2)

In this case, the theorem provides necessary conditions on the control matrix K to
allow stabilization of an unstable hyperbolic cycle x ∗ of the autonomous system

ẋ(t) = f (x(t)). (3)

These necessary conditions can be used as a guide when constructing the gain
matrix K .
In this paper, we consider systems (3), which respect some symmetry. Periodic
solutions (cycles) of such systems naturally come in group theoretic orbits, hence
there are multiple cycles with the same period. This complicates the applicability of
Pyragas control because the control acts non-invasively on all those cycles.
On the other hand, a modification of Pyragas control was proposed in [1] for sys-
tems with a finite group of symmetries in order to make the control non-invasive only
on one selected target cycle, which has been chosen for stabilization. The symmetry
of a cycle x ∗ is described by a collection of pairs (A g , Tg ) where A g ∈ GL(n) and Tg is
a rational fraction of the period of x ∗ . The symmetry is expressed by the property that

A g x ∗ (t) = x ∗ (t + Tg ) (4)

for all the pairs (A g , Tg ). To stabilize x ∗ , it was suggested in [1] to modify (1) by
selecting one particular g and introducing control as follows:

ẋ(t) = f (x(t)) + K (A g x(t − Tg ) − x(t)). (5)

In this paper, we extend the odd-number limitation type results considered


in [2, 3] to treat the case when control of the form (5) is applied to a system with a
finite group of symmetries.

2 Necessary Condition for Stabilization

Suppose that system (3) has a periodic solution x ∗ with period T . Assume that this
system respects some group of symmetries, and for one particular g relation (4)
holds. We denote by (t) the fundamental matrix of the linearization

ẏ = B(t)y, B(t) := D f (x ∗ (t)), (6)

of system (3) near x ∗ (t), where D f denotes the Jacobi matrix of f . Condition (4)
implies that
A−1g (Tg )ψ(0) = ψ(0), ψ(t) := ẋ ∗ (t), (7)
Odd Number Theorem for Equivariant Systems 15

i.e., the matrix A−1


g (Tg ) has an eigenvalue 1. We assume that

(H1 ) 1 is a simple eigenvalue for the matrix A−1


g (Tg ).

Following [1], we introduce a modified Pyragas control as in (5), where we assume


that
K Ag = Ag K . (8)

This commutativity property can be a natural restriction on feasible controls.


For example, it is typical of laser systems. On the other hand, gain matrices,
which are simple enough to allow for efficient analysis of stability of the controlled
equation (5), also usually satisfy condition (8); see [5].
Let D  denote the transpose of a matrix D. Using (H1 ), denote by ψ † the normal-
ized adjoint eigenvector with the eigenvalue 1 for the matrix [A−1
g (Tg )] :


[A−1  † †
g (Tg )] ψ0 = ψ0 , ψ0† · ψ(0) = 1,

where dot denotes the standard scalar product in Rn . Furthermore, denote by ψ † (t)
the solution of the initial value problem

ẏ = −B  (t)y, y(0) = ψ0† .

Since the fundamental matrix of system ẏ = −B  (t)y is (−1 (t)) ,

ψ † (t) = (−1 (t)) ψ0† . (9)

Note that relation (4) implies A g ψ(t) = ψ(t + Tg ) and Ag ψ † (t) = ψ † (t − Tg ).
Finally, denote by N the number of real eigenvalues μ of the matrix A−1 g (Tg ),
which satisfy μ > 1.
Theorem 1 Assume that conditions (H1 ) and (8) hold. Let
  Tg 
(−1) 1 +
N
ψ (t) · K ψ(t) dt

< 0. (10)
0

Then, x ∗ (t) is an unstable periodic solution of the controlled system (5).

3 Sketch of the Proof of Theorem 1

Linearizing system (5) near x ∗ gives

ẏ(t) = B(t)y(t) + K (A g y(t − Tg ) − y(t)). (11)

To prove that x ∗ is an unstable periodic solution of (5) we will show that system (11)
has a solution
16 E. Hooton et al.

yμ∗ (t) = μt/Tg p(t), A g p(t − Tg ) = p(t) (12)

with μ > 1, where the relation A g p(t − Tg ) = p(t) ensures that p is periodic. It is
easy to see that if the ordinary differential system
 
ẏ = B(t) + (μ−1 − 1)K y (13)

has a solution yμ of type (12), then yμ is also a solution of (11). Denote by μ (t)
the fundamental matrix of (13).

Lemma 2 If for some μ > 1 the matrix A−1 g μ (Tg ) has the eigenvalue μ, then the
system (13) has a solution of type (12) and hence the periodic solution x ∗ of (5) is
unstable.

The proof of this lemma is ommitted for brevity. In order to use Lemma 2, we consider
the characteristic polynomial
 
F(μ) := det μ Id − A−1
g μ (Tg )

of the matrix A−1


g μ (Tg ). Observe that Eq. (13) with μ = 1 coincides with (6), hence
1 =  and therefore condition (H1 ) implies F(1) = 0. We are going to show that
relation (10) implies
F(1 + ε) < 0, 0 < ε  1. (14)

Since limμ→∞ F(μ) = +∞, relation (14) implies that F has a root μ > 1 and there-
fore the conclusion of Theorem 1 follows from (14) by Lemma 2.
Setting μ = 1 + ε and t = Tg in the identity
  t 
μ (t) = (t) Id + (μ−1 − 1) −1 (s)K μ (s) ds ,
0

and using the fact that 1+ (Tg ) = (Tg ) + O(ε), we obtain the expansion
 Tg
1+ (Tg ) = (Tg ) (Id − ε Q) + O(ε ),2
Q := −1 (t)K (t) dt.
0

Therefore,
  
F(1 + ) det Id − A−1 −1
g (Tg ) + ε Id + A g (Tg )Q + O(ε2 ). (15)

Let us denote by L the transition matrix to a basis in which the matrix A−1 g (Tg )
assumes the Jordan form and agree that ψ(0) is the first vector of this basis (cf. (7)),
i.e.,
Le1 = ψ(0), e1 := (1, 0, . . . , 0) ∈ Rn . (16)
Odd Number Theorem for Equivariant Systems 17

In this basis, the matrix Id − L −1 A−1 g (Tg )L has the Jordan structure with the
diagonal entries 0, 1 − μ2 , 1 − μ3 , . . . , 1 − μn , where μk are the eigenvalues of
A−1
g (Tg ) different from the simple eigenvalue 1. With this notation, formula (15)
implies
 n
F(1 + ) = εM11 (1 − μk ) + O(ε2 ), (17)
k=2

where
M := Id + L −1 A−1
g (Tg )Q L; M11 = e1 · Me1 . (18)

Formula (16) implies that (L −1 ) e1 = ψ0† , hence


 Tg
−1
e1 · L Q Le1 = ψ0† · −1 (t)K (t)ψ(0) dt
0

Combining this with (16) and ψ(t) = (t)ψ(0), we obtain


 Tg
−1
e1 · L Q Le1 = ψ † (t)K ψ(t) dt.
0

Since the first row of the matrix L −1 A−1 


g (Tg )L is (e1 ) = (1, 0, . . . , 0), we see
from (18) that
 Tg
−1
M11 = 1 + e1 · L Q Le1 = 1 + ψ † (t)K ψ(t) dt.
0

Hence, (17) implies


  Tg 
sgn F(1 + ) = (−1) N 1 + ψ † (t)K ψ(t) dt ,
0

where N is the number of eigenvalues μk satisfying μk > 1. Thus, formula (10)


indeed implies (14). 

Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the support of NSF through grant DMS-1413223.

References

1. B. Fiedler, V. Flunkert, P. Hövel, E. Schöll, Delay stabilization of periodic orbits in coupled


oscillator systems. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. 368, 319–341 (2010)
2. E.W. Hooton, A. Amann, Analytical limitation for time-delayed feedback control in autonomous
systems. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109(15), 154101 (2012)
18 E. Hooton et al.

3. W. Just, B. Fiedler, M. Georgi, V. Flunkert, P. Hövel, E. Schöll, Beyond the odd number limitation:
a bifurcation analysis of time-delayed feedback control. Phys. Rev. E 76, 026210 (2007)
4. H. Nakajima, On analytical properties of delayed feedback control of chaos. Phys. Lett. A 232(3),
207–210 (1997)
5. C.M. Postlethwaite, G. Brown, M. Silber, Feedback control of unstable periodic orbits in equiv-
ariant Hopf bifurcation problems. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 371(1999), 20120467 (2013)
6. K. Pyragas, Continuous control of chaos by self-controlling feedback. Phys. Lett. A 170, 421–
428 (1992)
The Duhem Model and Hysteresis:
A Symbiotic Relationship?

Fayçal Ikhouane

Abstract The present extended abstract summarizes our paper “A survey of the
hysteretic Duhem model”, recently published in Archives of Computational Methods
in Engineering.

Hysteresis is a nonlinear phenomenon concomitant to various processes in science


and engineering. A search with Google Scholar of the term “hysteresis” gives 1.3
million articles. Hysteresis research covers experimental, methodological, and the-
oretical issues like physical and phenomenological modeling, identification, mathe-
matical characterization, control, etc.
Several models have been proposed to describe hysteresis. Preisach model [25]
assumes that “hysteresis is to be attributed in general to the existence in a system
of a very large number of independent domains, at least some of which can exhibit
metastability.”; see [10, p. 753]. Krasnosel’skiı̌–Pokrovskiı̌ [16] propose the ordinary
play, the generalized play, and the hysteron to represent vibro-correct hysteresis.
Hysteresis models based on a feedback interconnection between a linear system and
a static nonlinearity are proposed in [23].
A review of hysteresis models is provided in [18] and a detailed study of these
(and other) models may be found in [3, 5, 8, 13, 19, 26].
In the present paper we focus on the so-called Duhem model [9], which consists
in its generalized form, of a differential equation ẋ = f (x, u)g(u̇) where u is the
input, x the state, and f and g are functions with g(0) = 0; see [22].
Many phenomenological models of friction or hysteresis can be seen as particular
cases of this general form of the Duhem model: this is the case for example of the
Dahl [7], the LuGre [1, 6], or the Maxwell-slip models [11]. Thus “recast [ing]
each model in the form of a generalized . . . Duhem model . . . provide[s] a unified
framework for comparing the hysteretic nature of these models.”; see [24, p. 91].
The use of these phenomenological models to describe hysteresis is becom-
ing increasingly popular, see [2, 4, 17, 21, 24]. Indeed, “hysteretic phenomena

F. Ikhouane (B)
Departament de Matemàtiques, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Barcelona East School of Engineering, Barcelona, Spain
e-mail: faycal.ikhouane@upc.edu

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 19


A. Korobeinikov (ed.), Extended Abstracts Summer 2016,
Trends in Mathematics 10, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01153-6_4
20 F. Ikhouane

arising in structural and mechanical systems are so complicated that there has been
no well-accepted mathematical model which can describe all observed hysteretic
characteristics”, [21, p. 1408]. Moreover, the Preisach model which was believed
to describe the constitutive behavior of magnetic hysteresis, has shown to be a phe-
nomenological model; see [19, p. 2]. Finally, “differential equation-based models
lead to a particularly simple phenomenological description” [17, p. C8-545], and
“have the advantage that [they] require a small amount of memory so they are suit-
able in practical and low cost applications”, [4, p. 628].
In light of what has been said, a survey of the Duhem model seen as a mathematical
representation of hysteresis is appropriate. The paper is organized into 13 sections and
6 appendices. The “Introduction and literature review” section provides a brief history
of the Duhem model, along with the answers to the following questions raised during
the natural exposition of the matter: Why are there different generalized forms of the
Duhem model? Why are there different models of hysteresis? What is hysteresis? In
the answer to the last question we provide the opinions of known experts by using
quotations. Finally the section provides the aim and organization of the paper.
Sections 4–9 give a summary of those elements of the works [12, 15, 16, 20, 22,
26] that are related to the subject of the survey paper: the relationship between the
Duhem model and the phenomenon of hysteresis. In our opinion, these references are
the ones that explore the subject. We avoid surveying research that considers other
aspects of the Duhem model like the identification of the parameters of the special
cases of the Duhem model, or the control of systems that incorporate hysteresis
represented by the Duhem model. These aspects are not directly related to the subject.
For some special cases of the Duhem model, there are survey papers covering these
issues; see, for example, [14] for the Bouc-Wen model.
Section 4 provides those elements of [16] that are of interest for the present
work. In particular, it introduces the concept of vibro-correctness. When a gener-
alized Duhem model is vibro-correct, it is possible to extend the set of admissible
inputs from continuously differentiable to solely continuous. Section 4 also presents
the conditions under which the scalar rate-independent Duhem model has global
solutions. The section ends with a result of the continuity of the model seen as an
operator.
Section 5 summarizes the main conceptual contribution of [22]: a definition allow-
ing to decide whether a given generalized Duhem model is a hysteresis, along with
a definition of a hysteresis loop.
Section 6 presents the concepts of consistency and strong consistency introduced
in [12] to characterize a class of hysteresis systems that contains the generalized
Duhem model. It also shows how this characterization leads to a definition of a
hysteresis loop.
Sections 10 and 11 compare both definitions of hysteresis loop obtained in [22]
and [12].
Section 7 provides a necessary condition obtained in [20] for a generalized Duhem
model to be a hysteresis.
The Duhem Model and Hysteresis: A Symbiotic Relationship? 21

Section 8 summarizes the results obtained in [15] in relation with the dissipativity
of the scalar rate-independent Duhem model. The relationship between these results
and the orientation of the hysteresis loop is commented upon in Sect. 1.
Section 9 presents some of the results obtained in [26] in relation with the existence
of a Duhem operator, its continuity, and whether it is locally Lipschitz. The latter
property is related to the effect of noise on the hysteresis loop in Sect. 11.
Section 10 uses the semilinear Duhem model as a case study to illustrate the
concepts presented in Sects. 4–9, and to analyze, when appropriate, the relationships
between these concepts. Section 10 includes the mathematical analysis needed to
explore these relationships in the form of lemmas and theorems whose proof is
provided in Appendices B–F. The interpretation of the obtained results is done in
Sect. 11, and leads to the formulation of open problems in Sect. 12.
Section 13 deals with the issue of minor loops in relation with the Duhem model.

References

1. K.J. Åström, C. Canudas de Wit, Revisiting the LuGre friction model. IEEE Control Syst. Mag.
28, 101–114 (2008)
2. D. Bernardini, F. Vestroni, Hysteretic modeling of shape memory alloy vibration reduction
devices. J. Mater. Process. Manuf. Sci. 9, 101–112 (2000)
3. G. Bertotti, I. Mayergoyz (eds.), The Science of Hysteresis, vol. 3 (Elsevier, Academic Press,
Oxford, UK, 2006)
4. M. Branciforte, A. Meli, G. Muscato, D. Porto, ANN and non-integer order modeling of ABS
solenoid valves. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol. 19, 628–635 (2011)
5. M. Brokate, J. Sprekels, Hysteresis and Phase Transitions (Springer, New York, USA, 1996)
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with friction. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 40, 419–425 (1995)
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14, 1675–1682 (1976)
8. E. Della Torre, Magnetic Hysteresis (IEEE Press, Piscataway, NJ, USA, 1999)
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Mémoires couronnés et Mémoires des savants étrangers, l’Académie royale des sciences, des
lettres et des beaux–arts de Belgique, 1896
10. D.H. Everett, W.I. Whitton, A general approach to hysteresis. Trans. Faraday Soc. 48, 749–757
(1952)
11. M. Goldfarb, N. Celanovic, A lumped parameter electromechanical model for describing the
nonlinear behavior of piezoelectric actuators. Tans. ASME J. Dyn. Syst. Measur. Control 119,
478–485 (1997)
12. F. Ikhouane, Characterization of hysteresis processes. Math. Control Signals Syst. 25, 294–310
(2013)
13. F. Ikhouane, J. Rodellar, Systems with Hysteresis: Analysis, Identification and Control using
the Bouc-Wen Model (Wiley, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, England, 2007)
14. M. Ismail, F. Ikhouane, J. Rodellar, The hysteresis Bouc-Wen model, a survey. Arch. Comput.
Methods Eng. 16, 161–188 (2009)
15. B. Jayawardhana, R. Ouyang, V. Andrieu, Stability of systems with the Duhem hysteresis
operator: the dissipativity approach. Automatica 48, 2657–2662 (2012)
16. M.A. Krasnosel’skiı̌, A.V. Pokrovskiı̌, Systems with Hysteresis (Springer, Berlin, 1989)
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She drew Freda, who was shivering now, over on the couch, then turned
to Gregory.
“Good night, Gregory—again. You bring adventure with you.”
There was a smile in her eyes which he seemed to answer by a look in
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Irish mouth and it smiled very tenderly at them both as he softly went out.
Freda would not take Margaret’s little couch bed for herself so Margaret
had to improvise a bed on the floor for her guest, a bed of blankets and
coats and Freda slept in Margaret’s warm bath robe. Oddly, she slept far
better than did Margaret, who, for a long while, held herself stiffly on one
side that her turning might not disturb Freda.

II

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mind a little flat and disagreeable. There were a number of things to be
done. Margaret telephoned briefly to the Brownley house, left word with a
servant that Miss Thorstad had spent the night with her.
“I’ll go up there after we have some breakfast,” she said to Freda, “and
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spirits were rising steadily even though the thought of an interview with
Barbara remained dragging. It was great fun for Freda—the freedom of this
tiny apartment with its bed already made into a daytime couch, the eggs
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supply of dishes—two tall glasses of milk, rolls and marmalade.
“It’s so nice, living like this,” she exclaimed.
Margaret laughed.
“Then the Brownley luxury hasn’t quite seduced you?”
“I was excited by it. I’m afraid it did seduce me temporarily. But for the
last week something’s been wrong with me. And this was it. I wanted to get
out of the machinery. They leave you alone and all that—but it’s so ordered
—so planned. Everything’s planned from the menus to the social life. They
try to do novel things by standing on their heads sometimes in their own
grooves—at least the girls do—but really they get no freshness or freedom,
do they?”
“I should say that particular crowd didn’t. Of course you mustn’t
confound all wealthy people with them. They’re better than some but a
great deal less interesting than the best of the wealthy. And of course just
because their life doesn’t happen to appeal to your temperament—or mine
—”
“Are you always so perfectly balanced?” asked Freda, so admiringly as
to escape impertinence.
“I wish I were ever balanced,” answered Margaret. “And now suppose
you tell me a little more about what happened so I’ll be sure how I had
better take things up with the Brownley girls.”
Freda had been thinking.
“It really began with me,” she said. “Ted Smillie was Barbara’s man and
I was flattered when he noticed me. And of course I liked him—then—so I
let it go on and she hated me for that.”
“Stop me if I pry—but do you care for the young man now?”
“Oh—no!” cried Freda. “I’m just mortally ashamed of myself for letting
myself in as much as I did.”
“Everybody does.”
Margaret’s remark brought other ideas into Freda’s mind. She
remembered Gregory Macmillan and his apparent intimacy with Margaret.
But she asked nothing, going on, under Margaret’s questioning, with her
tale of the night before, and as they came to the part of Gregory’s
intervention, Margaret vouchsafed no information.
An hour later, she came back from the Brownley house, with Freda’s
suitcase beside her in a taxi.
“You did give them a bad night,” she said to Freda, “Bob Brownley
looks a wreck. It appears that later they went out to search the park—scared
stiff for you. And you had gone. They saw some men and were terrified.”
“Are they very angry?”
“Barbara tried to stay on her high horse. Said that although it was
possible she had misunderstood the situation it looked very compromising
and she thought it her duty in her mother’s absence—. Of course, she said,
she was sorry that matters had developed as they had. Poor Allie’d
evidently been thinking you’d been sewed up in a bag and dropped in the
river. They both want to let the thing drop quickly and I said they could say
that you were staying with me for the remainder of your visit. I also told
Barbara a few home truths about herself, and advised her to be very careful
what she said to her mother or I might take it up with her parents.”
“All this trouble for me!” cried Freda. “I am ashamed!”
“Nonsense. But I must go along quickly now. I’ve a meeting. Your trunk
will be along sometime this morning. Put it wherever you like and the
landlady will send the janitor up with a cot. And—by the way—if Gregory
Macmillan drops in, tell him I’m engaged for lunch, will you? You might
have lunch with him, if you don’t mind.”
“I feel aghast at meeting him.”
“Don’t let any lack of conventions bother you with Gregory. The lack of
them is the best recommendation in his eyes. He’s a wild Irish poet. I’ll tell
you about him to-night. I think you’ll like him, Freda. He’s the kindest
person I know—and as truthful as his imagination will let him be.”
“What is he in St. Pierre for?”
“Oh, ask him—” said Margaret, departing.
CHAPTER IX

WORK FOR FREDA

I T was on that morning that Gage Flandon made his last appeal to his wife
not to let herself be named as a candidate for Chicago at the State
Convention. He had been somewhat grim since the district convention.
As Margaret had realized would happen, certain men had approached him,
thinking to please him by sounding the rumor about sending his wife to the
National Convention. Many of them felt and Gage knew they felt that he
had started, or arranged to have started, a rumor that his wife would be a
candidate and that he meant to capitalize the entrance of women into
politics by placing his own wife at the head of the woman’s group in the
State. It was a natural enough conclusion and its very naturalness made
Gage burn with a slow, violent anger that was becoming an obsession. It
began of course with the revolt against that suspicion of baseness that he
could capitalize the position of his wife—that he could use a relation, which
was to him so sacred, to strengthen his own position. Yet, when these men
came with their flattery he could not cry down Helen without seeming to
insult her. There was only one way, he saw, and that was for Helen herself
to withdraw. If she did not, it was clear that she would be sent.
So he had besought and seemed to always beseech her with the wrong
arguments. He knew he had said trite things, things about women staying
out of politics, the unsuitability of her nature for such things, but he had felt
their triteness infused with such painful conviction in his own mind that it
continually amazed him to see how little response he awoke in her.
She had said to him, “You exaggerate it so, Gage. Why make such a
mountain out of a molehole? I’m not going to neglect you or the children.
I’ll probably not be elected anyhow. But why not regard it as a privilege and
an honor and let me try?”
“But why do you want to try?”
She looked as if she too were trying vainly to make him understand.
“I’d like to do something myself, Gage—something as myself.”
“You were content without politics two months ago.”
“I’ve changed—why begrudge me my enthusiasm?”
“Because I can’t bear to see you a waster like the rest of the women.
Because you’re so different. Everything about you is true and sound, dear,
and when you start deliberately using yourself for political effect, don’t you
see how you become untrue? There’s nothing in it, I tell you. The whole
thing’s cut and dried. There’s no big issue. If the women want to send some
one, let them choose some other figurehead!”
He had not meant it so but of course he seemed disparaging her.
“Perhaps,” she said rather frigidly, “perhaps I’ll not be such a figurehead
as you think.”
“But I didn’t mean to say that to hurt you.”
“I’m not sure what you do mean. It seems to me we’re actually childish.
You’ve chosen, quite deliberately, to be a reactionary in all this woman’s
progress movement. I’m sorry. But there is a loyalty one has to women,
Gage, beside the loyalty one has to a husband and I really cannot share your
prejudice against progress, as it applies to women.”
The unexpressed things in Gage’s mind fairly tore at him.
“If you really had one sensible objection, Gage—”
“There’s just one objection,” he said, doggedly, “you desecrate yourself.
Not by entering politics particularly. But by using yourself that way. You
mutilate your sex.”
She did not get angry. But she put one hand on his shoulder and they
looked at each other helplessly.
“Don’t you see,” said Helen, “that I want, like these other women, to
once in a while do something that’s clean of sex? That’s just me—without
sex?”
His eyes grew very hard. She struck almost mortally at the very thing he
loved most. And he moved away, as if to remove himself definitely.
“I’m sorry you feel so. It’s a pleasant remark for a man’s wife to fling at
him.”
Irony was so unusual in Gage that Helen stood looking after him after he
went out of the room. Her mind ached with the struggle, ached from the
assertion of this new determination of hers. Never had she wanted so to
give him comfort and be comforted herself. She saw the weeks ahead—
weeks of estrangement—possibly a permanent estrangement. Yet she knew
she would go on. It wasn’t just wanting to go on. She had to go on. There
was a principle involved even if he could not see it. Clearer and clearer she
had seen her necessity in these past two weeks. She had to waken her own
individuality. She had to live to herself alone for a little. She had to begin to
build defences against sex.
Gage was right. Margaret had sown the seed in his wife. Helen had not
watched her for nothing. She had seen the way that Margaret made no
concessions to herself as a woman, fiercely as she was working for the
establishment of woman’s position. It seemed paradoxical but there it was.
If you were truly to work for woman’s welfare you had to abandon all the
cushions of woman’s protected position, thought Helen—you couldn’t rest
back on either wifehood or motherhood. You couldn’t be lazy. You had to
make yourself fully yourself.
Here was her chance. She hadn’t wanted it but they had insisted. The
women wanted her to go to Chicago—not because she was Mrs. Flandon
but because she was Helen Flandon, herself. A little quiver of delight ran
through Helen as she thought of it. She would see it through. Gage would
surely not persist in his feeling. Surely he would change. He would be glad
when she proved more than just his wife.
She had a strange feeling of having doffed all the years which had
passed since she had left college, a feeling of youth and energy which had
often dominated her then but which had changed in the seven years of her
marriage. Since her marriage she had walked only with Gage and the
children—shared life with them very completely. Now it was not that she
cared less for them (she kept making that very clear to herself) but there
was none the less a new independence and new vigor about her. She felt
with them but she felt without them too.
It hurt her that Gage should feel so injured. But her exhilaration was
greater even than the hurt, because she could not sound the depths of her
husband’s suffering.
Gage went out of the house with no more words. He managed to focus
his mind on the work of the day which was before him but the basic feeling
of pain and anger persisted.
In the middle of the morning Helen called him, reminding him of his
promise to see if Freda Thorstad could be placed. She ignored, as she had a
way of doing, any difference between them.
“Are you going to drag that child in too?” he asked, ungraciously, and
then conscious of his unfairness for he knew quite well that the object was
to place Freda so she could earn her own living, he capitulated.
“Drummond gets back this afternoon. Send Miss Thorstad in about four
and I’ll take her to see him.”
“You’re a dear, Gage,” Helen rang off.
Gage tried to figure out whether something had been put over him or
not. There he let it go and sat in at the club with a chosen crowd before
lunch. It pleased him immensely to see Harry Harris stuck for the lunch. He
kidded him, his great laugh rising and falling.

II

At four Freda came and at her, “You’re sure I’m not too early, Mr.
Flandon?” Gage felt further ashamed of his ungraciousness. Freda was a
little pale, after her difficult night, and it made her rather more attractive
than ever to Gage. He thought she might be worrying over the chance of
getting the new work and was eager to make it easy for her.
“So you want to get into politics like all the rest?” he asked, but
smilingly.
“I want some work to do,” said Freda, “I’d just as soon do anything else.
But I really will have to work or go back to Mohawk and there isn’t
anything for me to do in Mohawk. I don’t much care what I do, to tell you
the truth, Mr. Flandon, so it is work. And I’ve a theory that I might be better
at washing windows than doing anything else.”
“This isn’t much of a job, you know.”
“Probably it’s all I could handle. I’m really a little nervous. Will they ask
for all kinds of qualifications?”
“There’s no ‘they’ There’s only one man and I think all he is looking for
is some one who is discreet and pleasant and can do ordinary secretarial
work.”
“I’m going to learn typewriting evenings,” said Freda.
It was so pleasant to be free from controversial conversation, or from
conversation which glossed over controversy that Gage found himself
feeling much warmer and more cheerful than he had for days. Together they
walked over to the office of the man who had the district chairmanship. Mr.
Drummond was embarrassed. Clearly he was embarrassed by the necessity
of refusing a favor Flandon asked. But he was put to it.
They left the office and at the street corner Freda stopped and held out
her hand.
“Pretty lucky for them that young Whitelaw got there first, I fancy.”
“Have you something else in mind?”
“I’ll try to find something. Maybe I can get a place as somebody’s
companion. Or maybe Miss Duffield will know—”
A tight little line came around Gage’s mouth. He didn’t want Margaret
Duffield running this girl. His dislike was becoming an obsession.
“I wonder,” he said slowly, “if you’d like to come into my office. I could
use another clerk, as a matter of fact. I’m away a great deal and I find that
since my assistant has been handling more law work he is too busy to do
things around the office—handling clients, sorting correspondence and such
things. The ordinary stenographer just messes up everything except a sheet
of carbon paper, and the last good one I had got married, of course. There
wouldn’t be much in it—maybe sixty a month, say—but if you’d like to try
—”
Freda looked at him straightly.
“If you’re just trying to find a job for me, I’d rather not, Mr. Flandon.”
He liked that, and gave her back honesty.
“Of course I would like to see you fixed. I thought this other thing would
work out better. But in all seriousness I could use another clerk in my office
and I’ve been wondering whom I could get. What do you say to trying it for
a month—”
“Let me try it for two weeks and then if I fail, fire me then. Only you’ll
surely fire me if I don’t earn my money?”
“Surely.”

III

Gage went home that night more cheerful than he had been for some
time. He had a mischievous sensation of having rescued a brand from
Margaret Duffield. At dinner Helen asked him if he had attended to Freda’s
case.
“Drummond had other arrangements already.”
“What a shame,” she said, “I wonder where we can place that girl. She is
too good to go back and do nothing in Mohawk. And she really wants to
earn money badly.”
“I placed her,” said Gage, hugging his mischief to himself.
“You did? Where?”
“I took her into my office.”
Helen looked at him in surprise.
“You know that she can’t typewrite?”
“I know. But I can use her. She has a good head and—a nice influence. I
think I’ll like to have her around. Since she has to work she’d be better
there than grubbing in politics.”
“As if your office wasn’t full of politics!”
“Well they’re not Duffield-politics.”
“Whatever you mean by that is obscure,” said Helen, “but don’t eat the
child’s head off, will you?”
CHAPTER X

THE CLEAN WIND

F REDA felt that night that all her dreams, all her vague anticipations of
doing were suddenly translated into activity and reality. In the strangest
way in the world, it seemed to her, so naïve was she about the obscure
ways of most things, she had a room of her own and a job in St. Pierre.
Margaret Duffield had smiled a little at the news of her job but at Freda’s
quick challenge as to whether she were really imposing on Mr. Flandon,
Margaret insisted that she merely found Gage himself humorous. She did
not say why that was so. Together she and Freda went to see the landlady
about a room for Freda. There was one, it appeared, in an apartment on the
third floor. Freda could have it, if she took it at once, and so it was
arranged.
It was a plain little room with one window, long and thin like the shape
of the room, furnished sparsely and without grace, but Freda stood in the
midst of it with her head high and a look of wondering delight in her eyes,
fingering her door key.
Later she went down to Margaret’s apartment to carry up her suitcase.
She found Gregory there. He had not come for lunch as Margaret had
warned her. Seeing him now more clearly than she had the night before,
Freda saw how cadaverous his face was, how little color there was in his
cheeks. She thought he looked almost ill.
They did not hear her come in. Gregory was sitting with his eyes on
Margaret, telling her something and she was listening in a protesting way. It
occurred to Freda that of course they were in love. She had suspected it
vaguely from their attitude. Now she was sure.
She coughed and they looked up.
“It’s my damsel in distress,” said Gregory, rising, “did everything clear
up? Is the ogress destroyed?”
“If she is, poor Miss Duffield had to do it.”
“She wouldn’t mind. She likes cruelties. She’s the most cruel person—”
“Hush, Gregory, don’t reveal all my soul on the spot.”
“Cruel—and over modest. As if a soul isn’t always better revealed—”
“You can go as far as you like later. Just now you might carry Freda’s
suitcase upstairs.”
He took the suitcase and followed them, entering Freda’s little room
which he seemed to fill and crowd.
“So this is where you take refuge from the ogress?”
“It’s more than a refuge—it’s a tower of independence.”
He looked at her appreciatively.
“We’ll agree on many things.”
Margaret asked Freda to come down with them and she went, a little
reluctantly wondering if she were not crowding their kindness. But Gregory
insisted as well as Margaret.
Margaret sat beside a vase of roses on her table and Gregory and Freda
faced her, sitting on the couch-bed. The roses were yellow, pink—delicate,
aloof, like Margaret herself and she made a lovely picture. Gregory’s eyes
rested on her a little wearily as if he had failed to find what he sought for in
the picture. He was silent at first—then, deftly, Margaret drew him out little
by little about the Irish Republic, and he became different, a man on fire
with an idea. Fascinated, stirred, Freda watched him, broke into eager
questioning here and there and was answered as eagerly. They were hot in
discussion when Walter Carpenter came.
There was a moment of embarrassment as if each of the men studied the
other to find out his purpose. Then Margaret spoke lightly.
“Do you want to hear about the Irish question from an expert, Walter?”
“Is Mr. Macmillan an expert?”
“He’s to lecture about it on Friday night.”
“It’s a dangerous subject for a lecture.”
“It’s a dangerous subject to live with,” answered Gregory a little
defiantly.
“Are you a Sinn Feiner, Macmillan?”
“I’m an Irish Republican.”
There was a dignity in his tone which made Walter feel his half-
bantering tone ill judged. He changed at once.
“We’re very ignorant of the whole question over here,” he said, “all we
have to judge from is partisan literature. We never get both sides.”
“There is only one side fit to be heard.”
Freda gave a little gasp of joy at that statement. It brushed away all the
conventions of polite discussion in its unequivocal clearness of conviction.
“I was sure of it,” she said.
Gregory turned and smiled at her. The four of them stood, as they had
stood to greet Walter, Margaret by the side of her last guest, looking
somehow fitting there, Gregory and Freda together as if in alliance against
the others. Then conversation, civilities enveloped them all again. But the
alliances remained. Freda made no secret of her admiration for Gregory.
The openness of his mind, the way his convictions flashed through the talk
seemed to her to demand an answer as fair. Her mind leapt to meet his.
Gregory Macmillan was Irish born, of a stock which was not pure Irish
for his mother was an Englishwoman. It had been her people who were
responsible for Gregory’s education, his public school and early Oxford
life. But in his later years at Oxford his restlessness and discontents had
become extreme. Ireland with its tangle of desires, its heating patriotism,
heating on the old altars already holy with martyrs, had captured his
imagination and ambition. He had gone to Ireland and interested himself
entirely in the study of Celtic literature and the Celtic language, living in
Connacht and helping edit a Gaelic Weekly. Then had come the war, and
conflict for Gregory. The fight for Irish freedom, try as he did to make it his
only end, had become smaller beside the great world confusion and,
conquering his revulsion at fighting with English forces he had enlisted.
Before the war Gregory’s verse had had much favorable comment. He
came out of the war to find himself notable among the younger poets,
acclaimed even in the United States. It seemed preposterous to him. The
machinations of the Irish Republican party absorbed him. Intrigue, plotting,
all the melodrama, all the tragedy of the Sinn Fein policy was known to
him, fostered by him. He had been in prison and after his release had fallen
ill. They had sent him to convalesce in Wales. It was while he was there that
there had come an offer from an American lecture bureau to go on tour in
the States telling of Irish literature and reading his own verse. He laughed at
the idea but others who heard the offer had not laughed. He was to come to
the States, lecture on poetry and incidentally see and talk to various
important Americans who might have Irish sympathies. The Republic
needed friends.
He came reluctantly and yet, once in New York, he had found so many
young literati to welcome him, to give him sympathy and hearing if not
counsel that his spirits had risen. And he had met Margaret Duffield and
drawn by her mental beauty, her curious cold virginity, he had fallen in love
with her and told her he loved her. For a few ardent weeks he wooed her,
she explaining away his love, denying it. Then she had come West and he
had sought his lecture bureau, making them include a lecture in this city
which held her. He had come and found her colder, more aloof than ever,
and now sitting in this room of hers he found a quiet, controlled, cultivated,
middle-aged man who seemed to be on terms of easy and intimate
friendship such as he had not attained.
After a little they divided their conversation. Margaret wanted to talk to
Walter about some complication in local politics—something affecting
Helen’s election. And Freda wanted to hear Gregory talk.
He told her about Ireland, of the men and women who plotted secretly
and constantly to throw off every yoke of sovereignty. He told of the beauty
of the Gaelic tongue, translating a phrase or two for her—talked of the Irish
poets and his friends and she responded, finding use now for all the
thoughts that had filled her mind, the poems she had read and loved. The
light in his deep set eyes grew brighter as he looked at the face turned to
his, meeting his own enthusiasm so unquestioningly. Once he looked at
Margaret curiously. She was deep in her discussion and with a glimmer of a
smile in his eyes he turned again to Freda.
At eleven he took her to her room. They went up the stairs to the door of
her apartment.
“Shall I see you between now and Friday night?”
“I’m going to work to-morrow.” Freda came back to that thought with a
jolt. “I don’t know.”
“To-morrow night? Just remember that I’m alone here—I don’t know
any one but you and Miss Duffield and I don’t want the people in charge of
my lecture to lay hands on me until it’s necessary. You’ve no idea what they
do to visiting lecturers in the provinces?”
“But hasn’t Miss Duffield plans for you?”
“I hoped she might have. But she’s busy, as you see.” His tone had many
implications. “So I really am lonely and you made me feel warm and
welcome to-night. You aren’t full of foolish ideas about friendships that
progress like flights of stairs—step by step, are you?”
“Friendships are—or they aren’t,” said Freda.
“And this one is, I hope?”
They heard a sigh within the apartment as if a weary soul on the other
side of the partition were at the end of its patience. Gregory held out his
hand and turned to go.
But Freda could not let him go. She was swept by a sense of the cruel
loneliness of this strange beautiful soul, in a country he did not know,
pursuing a woman he did not win. She felt unbearably pent up.
Catching his hand in both of hers, she held it against her breast, lifted her
face to his and suddenly surprisingly kissed him. And, turning, she marched
into her room with her cheeks aflame and her head held high. Groping for
the unfamiliar switch she turned on her light and began mechanically to
undress. It seemed to her that she was walking in one of her own storied
imaginings. So many things had happened in the last twenty-four hours
which she had often dreamed would happen to her. Adventures, romantic
moments, meetings of strange intimate congeniality like this with Gregory
Macmillan. She thought of him as Gregory.
Gregory went down the stairs quickly, pausing at Margaret’s door to say
good night. The other man was leaving too and they walked together as far
as Gregory’s hotel. They were a little constrained and kept their
conversation on the most general of subjects. Gregory was absent minded in
his comments but as he entered the hotel lobby he was smiling a little, the
immensely cheered smile of the person who has found what he thought was
lost.
Freda reported for work at the office of Sable and Flandon at half past
eight the next morning. She had not been sure at what time a lawyer’s office
began operations and thought it best to be early so she had to wait a full
hour before Mr. Flandon came in. The offices were a large, well-furnished
suite of rooms. There were three young lawyers in the office, associated
with Mr. Sable and Mr. Flandon, and three stenographers, in addition to a
young woman, with an air of attainment, who had a desk in Mr. Sable’s
office and was known as Mr. Sable’s personal secretary. Freda got some
idea of the organization, watching the girls come in and take up their work.
She became a little dubious as to where she could fit into this extremely
well-oiled machinery and wondering more and more as to the quixotic
whim which had made Mr. Flandon employ her, was almost ready to get up
and go out when Gage came in.
He saw her in a minute and showed no surprise. Instead he seemed to be
anxious to cover up any ambiguity in the position by making it very clear
what her duties were to be. He introduced her to the rest of the office force
as my “personal secretary” at which the Miss Brewster who held a like
position in Mr. Sable’s employ lifted her eyebrows a little. She was given a
desk in a little ante-room outside of Gage’s own office and Gage, with a
stenographer who had done most of his work, went over her duties. She was
to relieve the stenographer of all the sorting of his correspondence, take all
his telephone messages, familiarize herself with all of his affairs and
interests in so far as she could do so by consulting current files and be ready
to relieve him of any routine business she could, correcting and signing his
letters as soon as possible.
At five o’clock she hurried back to her little room to find a letter in her
mail box. It was from her father and at the sight of it she was saddened by
the sense of separation between them. Every word in it, counsel, affection,
humor breathed his love and thought for her. She was still poring over it
when Gregory came to take her to dinner, and forgot to be embarrassed
about the night before.
Gregory had never intended to be embarrassed evidently. He considered
that they were on a footing of delightful intimacy. His voice had more
exuberance in it to-night than she had previously heard. As they went past
Margaret’s door they looked up at her transom. It was dark.
“I hoped she was coming with us,” said Freda.
“She doesn’t want to come with me,” answered Gregory, “and that has
hurt me for a long time, it seems to me, although perhaps it is only weeks.
But it may be just as well. For I could never make her happy.”
“Would it be so hard?”
“I could never make any woman happy,” said Gregory with
extraordinary violence. “Happiness is a state of sloth. But I could live
through ecstasy and through pain with some one who was not afraid. For
this serene stagnancy which seems to be the end-all of most people, I’m no
good. I couldn’t do it, that’s all.”
His head was in the air and he looked, thought Freda, as if he would be
extremely likely to forget about any woman or anything else and go sailing
off in some fantasy of his own, at any time. She remembered him as he had
been, despondent, when she had first met him, last night full of blazing
enthusiasms, to-night blithely independent. It delighted her. She had never
before met a person who adjusted to no routine.
“Let’s walk in peace and watch the clouds and I’ll tell you what an old
Irish poet said of them.”
He could see her chin lift as she listened.
“To have in your mind such a wealth of beauty—what it must mean—to
feel that things do not starve within you for lack of utterance—” Her voice
was blurred into appreciations.
“Why let them starve?” asked Gregory.
“Perhaps because practical meat-and-drink body needs always claim the
nourishment the things of your mind need—and you let the mind go
hungry.”
“That’s it—that’s what people do—but you won’t. I hear it in your voice
—see it in your face. The things in you are too vital to be starved. You can
cripple them but you can’t kill them.”
“I do not know.”
“You must set yourself free.”
Freda smiled ruefully.
“That’s what women are always talking about and what they mean is a
washing machine.”
“That’s no freedom—that’s just being given the run of the prison. Don’t
you see that what I mean is to keep yourself free from all the petty desires
—the little peeping conventions—free for the great desires and pains that
will rush through you some day? You have to be strong to do that. You can
put up wind breaks for emotion so easily. And you don’t want them.”
“It means being very fearless.”
“I have never yet met anything worth fearing except cowardice.”
He stopped. They were in the middle of some sidewalk, neither of them
noticed where.
“Why did you kiss me last night?”
“I wanted to. I’ve not been sorry,” answered Freda. “By all the rules I’ve
learned I ought to be abashed, but you don’t live by rules, so why waste
them on you?”
Her smile was faintly tremulous. His strange, unfamiliar eyes looked
into hers and rested there.
“And we won’t have to spend time talking about love,” he said, half to
himself, “we shan’t wear it threadbare with trying to test its fabric. It comes
like the wind—like God.”
Again they breasted the wind and her hand was fast in his. It was a clean,
cool clasp. Freda felt oddly that she had saved her soul, that she had met an
ultimate.
CHAPTER XI

NEWSPAPER CUTS

T HE State Convention was imminent. In the vast barrenness of the


Auditorium rows upon rows of ticketed chairs were filling up with
delegates, sectional banners waved in the various parts of the big hall,
flags made the background for the speakers, chairs and table.
“The machinery for creating a government is in progress,” said
Margaret, “what do you think of it?”
Helen shook her head.
“Inadequate. When you think why they have come, how they have come,
what destinies they hold in their hands. Would women do it better I wonder,
Margaret?”
“Women are more serious. Perhaps. Anyway we must try it. If we don’t
like that machinery we’ll have to invent another kind.”
“Funny male gathering. Think they all have their women—and their
feeling towards their own women must influence their feeling towards all of
us. Their own women to treat cruelly or kindly—or possessively.”
“They’re on the last lap of their possession,” answered Margaret.
The gallery was filling with women, reporters, spectators with one
interest or another. The men were taking their places, formality settling on
the assembly. The temporary chairman was on the platform, welcoming
them, bowing grandiloquently with a compliment that was inevitable to the
ladies in the gallery. Nominations for a chairman were in order. The
temporary chairman retained his place as he had expected. The committees
on credentials, resolutions, organization, retired and the delegation heard
with some restlessness further exhortation as to the duties which lay before
them and the splendor of opportunity awaiting the party in the immediate
future.
The platform was read. Cheers, a little too well organized and not too
freely spontaneous, punctuated it. The women listened to it attentively,
Margaret frowning now and then at some of its clauses.
It was a long task. On its consummation the convention adjourned for
lunch.
It was mid-afternoon before the business of electing the delegates at
large to the National Convention had been reached. Helen felt her face grow
hot and her heart go a little faster even while she mocked at herself for
those signs of nervousness. Margaret watched as if her finger was on the
pulse of a patient.
Hedley’s name went through nomination as every one had expected.
Then Jensen was on his feet.
He was good. The women admitted that after his first words. He dwelt
upon the fact of suffrage, on the practical differences it made in the
electorate. He spoke of the recognition of women as a privilege. Then with
a reference which Helen had feared must come he spoke of the one woman
whose name is “familiar to us through the fine party loyalty of her husband”
and who is herself “the unspoken choice of hundreds and thousands of
women of this State” as their delegate. Helen heard her name come forth
unfamiliarly, heard the burst of clapping, faced the barricade of glances
with a smile.
There was little doubt about it from the start. What opposition there was
must have decided it unsafe to show its teeth. An hour later a discomfited
man, pushed off the party slate by a woman, edged his way out of the back
of the gallery and the woman was surrounded by a group of men and
women, all anxious to be early in their congratulations, some from sheer
enthusiasm, others from motives more questionable.
“And where is Gage passing the cigars?” asked one man jocularly.
Helen looked around as if in surprise that he was not there.
“He isn’t here, is he?”
She knew he wasn’t. She had known he wouldn’t come, even while she
could not quite kill the hope that he would.
At the door were photographers, even a moving picture man waiting for
the new woman delegates. Margaret dropped Helen’s hand and Helen, on
Mrs. Brownley’s arm, moved past the range of picture-takers with an air of
complete composure. In a moment she was in her car and moving out of
sight. Margaret turned to walk back to her own apartment, complete
satisfaction on her face.

II

Helen entered the house quietly and leaving her gloves and wrap on the
hall bench, went into the kitchen to see how things were going there. There
was a pleasant air of competence about it. The maids were busy and the
dinner in active preparation. Upstairs the nurse had the children. She played
with them a little, a warm sense of satisfaction at her heart. It was so absurd
to choose—to fake a choice. This other work, this other business could be
done without sacrificing anything. Gage was absurd. She was no less a
mother, not a bit less good a housewife because she was a delegate to the
Republican Convention. It took a bit of management, that was all. If she
was treating Gage badly she would feel different.
But there was a guilty feeling which she could not control. He was
unhappy and she the cause. They had been too close for that not to hurt.
At seven o’clock, a little late for dinner, came Gage, a guarded courtesy
in his manner. He asked her pardon for not dressing and handed her a sheaf
of evening papers. She was thankful that they had been issued too early to
contain the news of her triumph. It postponed certain altercations. She
thought suddenly of her barrage of photographers and of what she had
completely forgotten, Gage’s tremendous dislike of having her picture in
the papers.
“I can’t bear the thought of your picture tossed about the country—
looked at casually for an hour and then used as old newspapers are used—to
wrap a package—line a stair-rug—heaven knows what!”
Of course it had appeared occasionally for all of that but Helen had made
the occasions infrequent. She had always liked that prejudice of his. As she
looked at him to-night she thought he looked tired. There were strained
lines around his eyes, and he was very silent.
She said several little things and then, because avoidance of the big topic
seemed impossible, joined him in his silence. He looked at her at last,
smiling a little. It was not the smile of a rancorous man but rather a hurt
smile, a forced smile of one who is going to go through pain wearing it.
“I have been congratulated all the way home on your account, Helen. It
seems to have been a landslide for you.”

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