On the boundedness of solutions of the equation \(u^{\prime\prime}+(1+f(t))u=0\) (Q1001665)

The author studies the classical problem of boundedness of solutions of the equation \[ u''+(1+f(t))u = 0 \] and proves essentially the following Theorem. \quad Let \(\lambda >0\) and let \(m\) be an integer \(\geq 1\). Let \(f(t)\in C(0,\infty )\) such that \(1+f(t)\geq \lambda \) and \(\frac{d^{m}}{dt^{m}} (1+f(t))^{-1/2}\in BV(0,\infty )\) (with precisely defined meaning) then all solutions remain bounded as \(t\rightarrow \infty \). More precisely, for every solution \(u(t)\) it holds \[ \sup _{t\geq 0} ((1+f)^{1/2} |u|^{2}+(1+f)^{-1/2}|u'|^{2})< \infty. \] If in addition to the assumptions of \(f(t)\), one assumes that \(f(t)\rightarrow \infty \), as \(t\rightarrow \infty \), then every solution tends to \(0\) as \(t\rightarrow \infty \). Some applications are also given.