On oscillation properties for linear Hamiltonian systems (Q1011147)

The authors investigate oscillatory properties of the linear Hamiltonian differential system \[ x'=A(t)x+B(t)u,\quad u'=C(t)x-A^*(t)u \tag{*} \] under the assumption that the matrix \(B\) is positive definite. The main result of the paper is a statement showing that (*) is oscillatory provided \(\limsup\) of the largest eigenvalue of a certain symmetric matrix (related to coefficient matrices in (*)) is greater than a specific constant. This result is motivated by the previous papers \textit{L. H. Erbe, Q. Kong} and \textit{S. Ruan} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 117, No.~4, 957--962 (1993; Zbl 0777.34024)], and \textit{Q. Yang, R. Mathsen} and \textit{S. Zhu} [J. Differ. Equations 190, No.~1, 306--329 (2003; Zbl 1032.34033)]. The paper also contains a nice survey of recent oscillation criteria for (*).