Dichotomy and integral manifolds. I: General principles (Q1109941)

Consider a system of ordinary differential equations written as (1) \(\dot x=g(t,x,y)\), \(\dot y=h(t,x,y)\) having (0,0) as a stationary solution. If the eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix can be splitted in two groups i.e. belonging to half-planes \(Re(s)<\alpha\) and \(Re(s)>\beta\), this system admits a local invariant manifold \(y=s(x)\). The paper aims to prepare the stage for generalizations of this result to nonlocal situations. Instead of considering small neighbourhoods of a particular solution it is assumed that the (t,(x,y))-space is covered by a collection of open sets U and that on each such set the system will satisfy the conditions for an invariant manifold; in particular there exists a transformation of coordinates such that the system has the form (1), thus defining what is called a dichotomy structure. It is shown that if this dichotomy structure occurs on an invariant set there exists another invariant set close enough to the first one, where the same dichotomy structure occurs.