On the stability of unsteady motions (Q1092308)

One of the standard assumptions in the framework of Lyapunov's direct method is that a time-dependent Lyapunov function V(t,x) ``admits an infinitely small upper bound'' (i.e. ``is decrescent'' (W. Hahn) or ``becomes uniformly small'' in a neighbourhood of \(x=0)\) for all \(t\geq t_ 0\). The author points out that this assumption can be weakened: it is sufficient to suppose the existence of an ``infinitely small upper bound'' for all t from a sequence of time intervals \(\Delta_ i=[t_ i^{(1)},t_ i^{(2)}]\) such that \(\sum_{i}| \Delta_ i| =\infty\). The resulting modifications of the fundamental theorems of Lyapunov and Četaev are formulated, and for a specific nonautonomous nonlinear second order system (going back to O. Perron and discussed in the books of I. G. Malkin and W. Hahn) asymptotic stability of the zero solution is proved for an enlarged interval of parameter values.