Asymptotic stability and estimate of the region of attraction in certain systems with aftereffect (Q1264763)

Local asymptotic stability for delay systems is established subject to three assumptions: 1) the nonlinearities are not dominating near the zero-solution, 2) there is a Lyapunov critical case, 3) all Lyapunov characteristic numbers are finite. Local asymptotic stability is presumed to exist when all Lyapunov characteristic numbers are strictly positive, i.e. when the eigenvalues of the linear approximation have negative real parts. The `estimate' of the region of attraction is based on the closeness of functions defined by \(\|\cdot\|\). It is well known, and was already stressed by Lyapunov, that this closeness is not equivalent in a functional space to other definitions. The theorem on the boundary of the region of attraction is thus misleading, because it is not necessarily `physically' realistic. It is not explicitly defined what constitutes the boundary of a phase cell in a functional space.