Existence and multiplicity results for some nonlinear problems with singular \(\phi\)-Laplacian via a geometric approach (Q257322)

The authors study the existence and multiplicity of periodic solutions of boundary value problemis for equations of the form \[ (\phi(\mathbf{ x}'))'=\mathbf{ f}(t,\mathbf{ x},\mathbf{ x}') \] with either Dirichlet, periodic or Neumann boundary conditions. Here, the function \(\mathbf{ f}(t,u,v):[0,T]\times \mathbb R^3\times \mathbb R^3\to \mathbb R^3\) is Lipschitz continuous, and \(\phi:B_a(0)\to \mathbb R^3\) is a homeomorphism of the open ball \(B_a(0)\) (with center at the origin and radius \(a\)) with the properties \(\phi(0)=0,\) \(|\phi(v)|\to\infty\) as \(v\to\partial B_a(0)\) and \(\phi_i,\;i=1,2,3,\) is monotonous with respect to the \(i\)th component of the variable. The basic tool in this work is a bend-twist fixed point theorem which is a slight modification of the Poincaré-Miranda theorem. With its help it is shown, for example, that the considered equation has at least one solution, with components in \(C[0,T]\), satisfying the periodic boundary conditions \[ \mathbf{ x}(0)-\mathbf{ x}(T)=0=\mathbf{ x}'(0)-\mathbf{ x}'(T) \] if there exist positive increasing sequences \(\{\alpha_k^i\}\) with \(\alpha_1^i<\alpha_2^i<\dots<\alpha_n^i,\) \(i=1,2,3,n\in N\setminus\{1\},\) and \(\epsilon\in\{-1,1\}\) such that for all \(t\in[0,T]\) \[ \epsilon\int_0^Tf_i(s,\mathbf{ x}(s),\mathbf{ x}'(s))\text{d}s\geq0\;\;\text{if}\;\;|x_i(t)-\alpha_k^i|<aT\;\text{and}\;|x_i'(t)|<a\;\text{on}\;[0,T], \] \[ \epsilon\int_0^Tf_i(s,\mathbf{ x}(s),\mathbf{ x}'(s))\text{d}s\leq0\;\;\text{if}\;\;|x_i(t)-\alpha_{k+1}^i|<aT\;\text{and}\;|x_i'(t)|<a\;\text{on}\;[0,T]. \] The used geometrical approach is applied for investigating the existence and multiplicity of periodic motions of charged particles in a three-dimensional electromagnetic field.