On variational and topological methods in nonlinear difference equations (Q1660088): Difference between revisions

The authors first survey the recent progress in the application of critical point theory to study the existence of multiple periodic and subharmonic solutions of second-order difference equations and discrete Hamiltonian systems with a variational structure. Next, they propose a new topological method, based on the application of the equivariant version of the Brouwer degree, to study difference equations without the extra assumption of an existing variational structure. A new result on the existence of multiple periodic solutions for non-variational difference systems satisfying a Nagumo-type condition is obtained. In Section 2 the authors outline some variational methods for discrete systems. In Section 3 they focus on the progress related to the existence of multiple periodic solutions for second-order difference equations, including second-order discrete Hamiltonian systems and second-order self-adjoint difference equations. Section 4 mainly deals with solutions of boundary value problems for difference equations. In Section 5 recent results on discrete Hamiltonian systems are discussed. Recent progresses on a discrete \(p\)-Laplace equation and higher-order difference equations are presented in Section 6. In Section 7 the authors present their original results on multiple periodic solutions for a system of second-order difference equations without the extra assumption on a variational structure. Finally, in Section 8, they put forward a new direction for further investigations. For the convenience of the reader, they also added two appendices: the first one containing the main results of critical point theory, and the second one providing basic information on equivariant degree theory.