Structure theory and duality for the time varying retarded functional differential equations (Q1263724)

The aim of this paper is to extend to FDEs \(\dot x(t)=L(t,x_ t)\) the results on structural operators and duality which were obtained for autonomous linear FDEs [\textit{C. Bernier} and \textit{A. Manitius}, Can. J. Math. 30, 897-914 (1978; Zbl 0368.47026); \textit{M. Delfour} and \textit{A. Manitius} [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 74, 359-381 (1980; Zbl 0464.34050) and ibid. 73, 466-490 (1980; Zbl 0456.34041) and \textit{A. Manitius}, Appl. Math. Optimization 9, 73-95 (1982; Zbl 0528.93011)]. Two state concepts in the space G are investigated: the state given by the initial function and the state given by the forcing term. The duality theory is based upon these two concepts. The approach of this paper is the explicit use of two structural operators F(t) and G(t), their relations with the evolution operators and duality, as well as the results on strong continuity of all these operators. In the product space \(M^ p=R^ n\times L^ p\) the following questions are investigated: the extendability of structural and evolution operators defined on the space to product space, the strong continuity of these extended operators, the duality theory in product spaces and the existence of a functional-differential adjoint equation. These results may help to characterize solutions of control problems associated with FDEs and to develop certain aspects of numerical approximation schemes.