On the Neumann problem for an ordinary differential equation with discontinuous right-hand side (Q2567823)

The authors consider the following Neumann problem with discontinuous right-hand side \[ x''\in g(t,x,x'),\tag{1} \] \[ x'(0)=r,\;x'(T)=s, \tag{2} \] where \(g:U\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is a multifunction, \(U=(a,b)\times \mathbb{R}\times \mathbb{R}\), \(a<0<T<b\) and \(r,\;s\in\mathbb{R}\). By considering \(y=x'\) and \(z=(x,y)\in\mathbb{R}\), the original problem becomes \[ z'\in h(t,z),\tag{3} \] \[ y(0)=r,\;\;y(T)=s,\tag{4} \] with \(h(t,z)=(y,g(t,x,y))\). The authors prove the existence of solutions of problem (3), (4), assuming that the solutions of the corresponding Cauchy problem exist, are continuous and the solution set of each specific Cauchy problem is acyclic. To do so they use, among other tools, a version of the principle of continuation with respect to a parameter.