Equivalent condition for stability of a Volterra integro-differential equation (Q2367844)

The paper is devoted to the study of the following scalar linear integro- differential equation of Volterra type (1) \(x'(t)=a(t)x(t)+\int^ t_ 0c(t,s)x(s)ds\), where \(a(t)\) and \(c(t,s)\) are real-valued continuous functions defined for \(t\geq 0\) and \(t\geq s\geq 0\), respectively, with \(a(t)\) positive for large \(t\). A number of results on various types of stability and instability as well as attractivity and inattractivity of the zero solutions of equation (1) are proved. The main tools used in the paper are Lyapunov type functionals and a comparison result for ordinary differential equations similar to Lemma 1 in the paper of \textit{R. D. Driver} [Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 10, 401-426 (1962; Zbl 0105.304)]. The conditions in all the results obtained, except those in Lemmas 2.2 and 2.3, are given in terms of the functions \(a(t)\) and \(c(t,s)\) explicitly. A necessary and sufficient condition ensuring stability of the zero solution of equation (1) is also obtained in the case when the function \(c(t,s)\) is nonnegative for \(t\geq s\geq 0\).