k-component disconjugacy for systems of ordinary differential equations (Q1077604)

Summary: Disconjugacy of the kth component of the \(m\)th order system of nth order differential equations (1) \(Y^{(n)}=f(x,Y,Y',...,y^{(n-1)})\), is defined, where \(f(x,Y_ 1,...,Y_ n)\), \(\partial f/\partial y_{ij}(x,Y_ 1,...,Y_ n): (a,b)\times {\mathbb{R}}^{mn}\to {\mathbb{R}}^ m\) are continuous. Given a solution \(Y_ 0(x)\) of (1.1), \(k\)-component disconjugacy of the variational equation \((2)\quad Z^{(n)}= \sum^{n}_{i=1}f_{Y_ i}(x,Y_ 0(x),...,Y_ 0^{(n-1)}(x)) Z^{(i-1)},\) is also studied. Conditions are given for continuous dependence and differentiability of solutions of (1) with respect to boundary conditions, and then intervals on which (1) is \(k\)-component disconjugate are characterized in terms of intervals on which (2) is \(k\)-component disconjugate.