Nonlinear integrodifferential equations and a priori bounds on periodic solutions (Q1199808)

Consider simultaneously the system of integrodifferential equations \[ x'(t)=Dx(t)+f(x(t))+\int^ t_{-\infty}k(t,s)g(x(s))ds+p(t),\;- \infty<t<\infty, \tag{1} \] and the following family of systems \[ (1_ \lambda)\;x_ \lambda'(t)=\lambda(mI+D)x_ \lambda(t)-mx_ \lambda(t)+\lambda f(x_ \lambda(t))+\lambda\int^ t_{- \infty}k(t,s)g(x_ \lambda(s))ds+p(t),\;-\infty<t<\infty, \] where \(m\) and \(\lambda(0\leq\lambda\leq 1)\) are real numbers, \(m\neq 0\); \(f,g:R^ n\to R^ n\), \(p:R\to R^ n\), and \(k:R^ n\times R^ n\to R^{n\times n}\) are real-valued continuous functions; \(D\) is an \(n\times n\) constant matrix; \(p(t+T)\equiv p(t)\), \(k(t+T,s+T)\equiv k(t,s)\) for some number \(T>0\), \(k(t,s)=0\) for \(s>t\), and that \(\sup_{-\infty<t<\infty}\int^ t_{-\infty}| k(t,s)| ds<\infty\). By applying a topological transversality method due to \textit{A. Granas} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Ser. A 282, 983-985 (1976; Zbl 0348.47039)], the authors establish the main result of the paper: Assume that there exists a number \(B>0\) such that for all continuous T- periodic solutions \(x_ \lambda\) of \((1_ \lambda)\) we have \(| x_ \lambda|_ 0<B\) for all \(\lambda,0\leq\lambda\leq 1\), where \(|\cdot|_ 0\) denotes the supremum norm. Then there exists a continuous \(T\)-periodic solution of (1). Many cases of equation (1) for \(n=1\) are also studied. It is shown that a variant of Lyapunov's direct method can be applied to yield a priori bounds on continuous \(T\)-periodic solutions of the corresponding family \((1_ \lambda)\) for \(n=1\) with respect to the \(L^ 1\) norm. Then, the desired bound \(B\) follows directly from Sobolev's inequality. Note here that the system (1) does not necessarily reduce to a finite delay system.