Critical delays and polynomial eigenvalue problems (Q2519721)

The author proposes a method for parameterizing the critical delays, \(h_k\), which give the boundary of the stability region of the delay-differential equation \(x'(t)=A_0x(t)+\sum _{k=1}^m A_kx(t-h_k)\) for \(t>0\), with \(x(t)=\varphi (t)\) for \(t\in [-h_m,0]\), where the \(A_k\) are real \(n\times n\) matrices. A key step in the method requires the solution of a quadratic eigenvalue problem for \(n^2\times n^2\) matrices. In the case in which the delays are integer multiples of the smallest delay, the author discusses the relationship of this work to earlier work of \textit{J. Chen, G. Gu} and \textit{C. N. Nett} [Syst. Control Lett. 26, No.~2, 107--117 (1995; Zbl 0877.93117)].