Two-point boundary value problems involving reflection of the argument (Q1090824)

The author studies the following problems involving reflection of the argument \[ (1)\quad \ddot x(t)+f(x(t))\dot x(t)+g(t,x(t),x(- t))=e(t),\quad x(-1)=x(1)=0 \] \[ (2)\quad \ddot x(t)+g(t,x(t),x(- t))=e(t),\quad \dot x(-1)=\dot x(1)=0 \] where f is continuous, \(e\in L^ 1(-1,1)\) and g satisfies (i) Carathéodory's conditions \[ (ii)\quad \lim_{| x| \to +\infty}\sup | \frac{g(t,x,y)}{x}| \leq \Gamma (t)=\Gamma_ 0(t)+\Gamma_ 1(t)+\Gamma_{\infty}(t)\quad with\quad \Gamma_ 0(t)\leq \pi^ 2/4. \] The asymptotic behavior of g(t,x,y)/x is related to the first eigenvalue \(\pi^ 2/4\) of the linear problem corresponding to (1) and to the first two eigenvalues 0 and \(\pi^ 2/4\) of the linear problem corresponding to (2).