On positive periodic solutions of a nonautonomous neutral delay \(n\)-species competitive system (Q2474818)

The paper investigates the following neutral delay system of differential equations a modelling \(n\)-species competitive ecological system \[ \begin{aligned} N_i'=N_i(t) \left( r_i(t)-\sum_{j=1}^n a_{ij}(t) N_j(t)-\sum_{j=1}^n b_{ij}(t) N_j(t-\tau_{ij}(t)) -\sum_{j=1}^n c_{ij}(t) N_j'(t-\sigma_{ij}(t)) \right),\\ \quad i=1,\dots,n.\end{aligned} \] Here \(a_{ij},\,b_{ij}\in C(R,[0,+\infty))\), \(c_{ij}\in C^1(R,[0,+\infty))\), \(\tau_{ij}\in C^1(R,R)\), \(\sigma_{ij}\in C^2(R,R)\) are \(\omega\)-periodic functions, and \(r_i\in C(R,R)\) are \(\omega\)-periodic functions with \(\int_0^\omega r_i(t)\,dt>0\). The paper establishes several sufficient conditions for the existence of positive periodic solutions. The proofs use degree theory technique different from the continuation theorem of [\textit{R. E. Gaines, J. L. Mawhin}, Coincidence degree and nonlinear differential equations. Lecture Notes in Mathematics. 568. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1977; Zbl 0339.47031)] and the abstract continuation theory for \(k\)-set contraction [\textit{W. Petryshyn, Z. Yu}, Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl. 6, 943--969 (1982; Zbl 0525.34015)]. As application some special cases extensively studied in the literature are considered.