On unbounded solutions of a class of differential equations with deviating argument (Q1310475)

The authors consider a functional differential equation of the type \[ x''+ q(t) F(x(g(t)),\;x'(h(t)))= 0 \] and are interested in proving the existence of a positive increasing unbounded solution which is defined on a half line. The technique used differs from the usual ones and is based on the application of the Tychonov fixed point theorem to a suitable chosen subset. The main result is the following Theorem: Assume that \(q\), \(g\), \(h\) are positive continuous functions defined on the half line \([0,+\infty)\) and that the functions \(g\), \(h\) are unbounded. If \(u\cdot F(u,v)> 0\) for \(u\neq 0\), \(F(\cdot,v)\), \(F(u,\cdot)\) are nonincreasing and \[ \int_ 0^{+\infty} q(s) F(g(s),h(s))ds<\infty, \] then there exists at least one eventually positive increasing unbounded solution of the above equation. The last section is devoted to the study of the oscillatory properties of the bounded solutions.