Positive solutions of integro-differential equations with unbounded delay (Q1195892)

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a positive solution to the equation \(\dot x(t)+bx(t)+\int_{-\infty}^ t c(t- s)x(s)ds=0\), \(t\geq 0\), where \(b\in R\), \(c\in C[[0,\infty),R^ +]\), \(0<\int_ 0^ \infty c(s)e^{-\gamma_ 0 s}ds<\infty\), \(\gamma_ 0\in R\) are established. Moreover it is shown that \(N(t)-N^*\) has at least one zero in \((- \infty,\infty)\) if \(N(t)\) is the unique solution to the equation \(\dot N(t)=N(t)\bigl[a-bN(t)-\int_{-\infty}^ t c(t-s)N(s)ds\bigr]\), \(t\geq 0\), where \(a\in(0,\infty)\), \(b\in[0,\infty)\), \(c\in C[[0,\infty),R^ +]\), \(0<\int_ 0^ \infty c(s)ds<\infty\) and \(N^*=a/\bigl(b+\int_ 0^ \infty c(s)ds\bigr)\).