Lyapunov stability with respect to given state functions (Q1314016)

Some ideas of Lyapunov's first method are applied to the general problem of the stability of the equilibrium of reversible systems. The study is based on an examination of the trajectories asymptotic to an equilibrium position: if the equilibrium is stable with respect to a function \(Q\), this function is stable on the asymptotic trajectories. Asymptotic solutions are sought using a special kind of series. As an application, a relativistic version of Earnshaw's theorem on the instability of the equilibrium of a charge in a stationary electric field is proved.