On a class of variational equations transformable to the Gauss hypergeometric equation (Q1192271)

This paper further investigates equations appearing as variational equations around a straight-line solution in Hamiltonian systems of the form, \(H=T(p)+V(q)\) where \(T(p)\) and \(V(q)\) are homogeneous functions of \(p\) and \(q\), respectively. They are in fact applications of a new class of linear ordinary differential equations with periodic coefficients previously studied by the author and were found to be transformable to a Gauss hypergeometric equation. Again in this generalized Hamiltonian setup the monodromy matrices are explicitly computable. The variational equation takes the form \(d\xi/dt=\eta\), \(d\eta/dt=- \lambda\varphi(t)^{k-2}\xi\), where \(\lambda\) is a constant parameter and \(\varphi(t)\) satisfies \(d^ 2\varphi/dt^ 2+\varphi^{k-1}(t)=0\) and \(k\) is the degree of homogeneity for \(V(q)\). With the newly defined generalized Hamiltonian, \(T(p)+V(q)\) again the author very carefully examines and transforms the variational problem to the Gauss hypergeometric equation of the form \(z(1-z)d^ 2\xi/dz^ 2+[c- (a+b+1)z]d\xi/dz-ab\xi=0\) where the parameters are explicitly defined. Two fundamental monodromy matrices of the Gauss hypergeometric equation together with their trace are explicitly computed. The paper concludes with a very nice example displaying the procedure developed together with explicitly computing the regions of instability.