Oscillations of delay differential equations with variable coefficients (Q5906865)

It is well-known that \[ \liminf_{t\to\infty} \int^t_{t-\tau} p(s)ds>1/e \] implies that all solutions of \[ y'(t)+ p(t)y (t-\tau) =0,\;t\geq t_0 \tag{*} \] oscillate, where \(\tau>0\) and \(p\in C ([t_0, \infty), [0,\infty))\). \textit{B. Li} has obtained [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 192, No. 1, 312-321 (1995; Zbl 0829.34060)] the following sharper sufficient conditions for oscillation of all solutions of (*): There exists a \(\widetilde t>t_0 +\tau\) such that \[ \int^t_{t-\tau} p(s)ds \geq 1/e, \quad t\geq \widetilde t \tag{**} \] and \[ \int^\infty_{t_0+ \tau} p(t)\left[\exp \left(\int^t_{t-\tau} p(s)ds-1/e \right)-1 \right]dt =\infty. \] The conditions (**) are improved further. If there exist a \(t_1>t_0 +\tau\) and a positive integer \(n\) such that \[ p_n(t)\geq e^{-n}, \quad \overline p_n(t) \geq e^{-n},\;t\geq t_1 \] and \[ \int^\infty_{t_0+n \tau} p(t)\biggl[\exp \bigl(e^{n-1} p_n(t)- e^{-1} \bigr)-1 \biggr]dt=\infty, \] then all solutions of (*) oscillate, where \[ \begin{aligned} p_1(t) & =\int^t_{t-\tau} p(s)ds,\;t\geq t_0 +\tau, \\ p_{k+1}(t) & =\int^t_{t-\tau} p(s)p_k(s)ds,\;t\geq t_0+ (k+1)\tau \\ \overline p_1 (t) & = \int^{t +\tau}_t p(s)ds,\;t\geq t_0,\\ \overline p_{k+1} (t) & =\int^{t+ \tau}_t p(s)\overline p_k(s)ds,\;t\geq t_0, \;k=1,2, \dots, \end{aligned} \] An example is given to illustrate the result.