Time analysis and entry–exit relation near planar turning points

Abstract The paper deals with canard solutions at very general turning points of smooth singular perturbation problems in two dimensions. We follow a geometric approach based on the use of C k -normal forms, centre manifolds and (family) blow up, as we did in (Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., to appear). In (Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., to appear) we considered the existence of manifolds of canard solutions for given appropriate boundary conditions. These manifolds need not be smooth at the turning point. In this paper we essentially study the transition time along such manifolds, as well as the divergence integral, providing a structure theorem for these integrals. As a consequence we get a nice structure theorem for the transition equation, governing the canard solutions. It permits to compare different control manifolds and to obtain a precise description of the entry–exit relation of different canard solutions. Attention is also given to the special case in which the canard manifolds are smooth, i.e. when “formal” canard solutions exist.