Boundedness of solutions of Duffing's equation (Q1089489)

The paper deals with the boundedness problem for solutions of the equation (*) \(\ddot x+g(x)=p(t)\) where p(t) is continuous and \(2\pi\)- periodic in \({\mathbb{R}}\), and g(x) is continuously differentiable on \({\mathbb{R}}\) and satisfies \(\lim (1/x)g(x)=\infty\) as \(| x| \to \infty\). The following result is proved: All solutions of such an equation are bounded on \({\mathbb{R}}\) if p(t) is even, or if both p(t) and g(x) are odd. The proof is topological in nature. It is based on the twist property of the Poincaré map \(\Phi\) associated with (*) and on the fact that under the assumptions stated above some Lagrange stable sets for \(\Phi\) have a certain kind of mutual symmetry.