Hopf bifurcation for functional and functional differential equations with infinite delay (Q1097392)

This paper discusses Hopf bifurcation problems for the functional equation (1) \(x(t)=F(\alpha,x_ t)\), \(t\in {\mathbb{R}}\) and for the neutral functional differential equation (2) \(d/dt(x(t)-F(\alpha,x_ t))=/G(\alpha,x_ t),\) \(t\in {\mathbb{R}}\). Most of the existing Hopf bifurcation results for (1) and (2) require F and G to be nonanticipatory functionals with a finite delay. Some recent results do exist where F is allowed to include an infinite delay, but then it is still assumed that F and G have an ``exponentially fading'' memory. This paper contains a general Hopf bifurcation result for (1) and (2) which uses minimal assumptions on the smoothness of F and G, and on the rate of decay of the built-in memories of F and G. The Lyapunov-Smith method is applied in the space of periodic, \(R^ n\)-valued functions on real line. The goal is to obtain bifurcation equations, the zeros which correspond in a one-to-one way to periodic solutions of (1) and (2). In typical applications, the functions F and G are nonanticipatory. However, this fact is of absolutely no importance in the proofs here and therefore does not exclude the possibility that F or G is anticipatory. One of the sections contains formulas for the derivatives of the bifurcation function, which are needed when one wants to determine the bifurcation behavior of the equation. Another section discusses an alternative set of size conditions on F under which the bifurcation results are also valid.