Existence of positive solutions of a singular initial problem for a nonlinear system of differential equations (Q1768063)

This work considers initial value problems (IVPs) defined by a diagonally implicit ODE of the form \(g(x)y'=A(x)\alpha(y) - \omega(x)\), together with \(y(0^+)=0;\) here \(y \in \mathbb{R}^n\), \(y'=dy/dx\), \(g(x)=\text{diag}(g_1(x), \ldots, g_n(x))\), \(A(x)=(a_{ij}(x))\) is a non-singular matrix with non-vanishing diagonal entries, \(\alpha(y)=(\alpha_1(y_1), \ldots, \alpha_n(y_n)),\) and \(\omega(x)=(\omega_1(x), \ldots, \omega_n(x))\); \(g\) is continuous, and \(A\), \(\alpha\), \(\omega\) are \(C^1\). The condition \(g_i(0^+)=0\) for some \(i\) defines a singular Cauchy problem. Under componentwise positivity hypotheses on \(g(x)\), \(\alpha(y)\), \(\alpha'(y)\), \(\Omega(x) \equiv A^{-1}(x)\omega(x)\) and \(\Omega'(x)\), and assuming additionally \(\alpha(0^+)=\Omega(0^+)=0\), \(\alpha_i(y) \leq M\alpha'_i(y)\), the authors first show that there exists a well-defined, positive, \(C^1\) mapping \(z=\varphi(x)=\alpha^{-1}(\Omega(x))\) with \(\varphi(0^+)=0\). This allows them to construct a ``funnel'', that is, a domain which will contain the graph of a solution to the singular IVP; specifically, under additional conditions on \(a_{ij},\) \(\omega_i,\) \(g_i\) and \(\Omega_i\), they prove using a topological retract method that there exists a family of positive solutions to the IVP. Some generalizations, simplification for linear cases (in which \(\alpha_i = \text{id}\)), and examples are discussed.