Existence and continuation of periodic solutions of autonomous Newtonian systems (Q2576195): Difference between revisions

This article is devoted to the study of existence and continuation of nonstationary periodic solutions of the autonomous Newtonian systems \[ -x'' = \nabla V(x) \] and \[ -x'' = \nabla V_\lambda (x), \] respectively. Here, \(V,V_\lambda \in C^2( \mathbb{R}^N,\mathbb{R})\) and \(\lambda \in \mathbb{R}\) is a parameter. Solutions of these problems are obtained as critical points of an \(SO(2)\)-invariant functional defined on a Hilbert space, which is an orthogonal representation of the group \(SO(2)\). The gradient of this functional is an \(SO(2)\)-equivariant \(C^1\)-operator having the form of a compact perturbation of the identity. To get their results, the authors apply an infinite-dimensional version of the degree for \(SO(2)\)-equivariant gradient operators. The authors also emphasize that the Leray-Schauder degree cannot be directly used in this situation.