Oscillation results for selfadjoint differential systems (Q1073233)

We consider the second-order differential system, (1) \((R(t)Y')'+Q(t)Y=0\), where R, Q, Y are \(n\times n\) matrices with R(t), Q(t) symmetric and R(t) positive definite for \(t\in [a,+\infty)\) \((R(t)>0\), \(t\geq a)\). We establish sufficient conditions for all prepared solutions Y(t) of (1) to be oscillatory; that is, det Y(t) vanishes infinitely often on \([a,+\infty)\). The conditions involve the smallest and largest eigenvalues \(\lambda_ n(R^{-1}(t))\) and \(\lambda_ 1(\int^{t}_{a}Q(s)ds)\), respectively. The results obtained can be regarded as generalizing well-known results of Leighton and others in the scalar case.