The method of lower and upper solutions for \(n\)th-order periodic boundary value problems (Q1327337)

Studying the maximum principle for the composition of two operators, the author has derived new maximum principles for the operator \(L_ n u= u^{(n)}+ Mu\) which maps \(F^ n_{a,b}= \{u\in W^{n,1}(I): u^{(i)}(a)= u^{(i)}(b)\), \(i= 0,\dots, n-2\), \(u^{(n-1)}(a)\geq u^{(n-1)}(b)\}\) into \(L^ 1(I)\), \(I= [a,b]\), in both cases \(M>0\) and \(M<0\). By means of them the validity of the monotone method for the boundary value problem (1) \(u^{(n)}(t)= f(t,u(t))\), (2) \(u^{(i)}(a)- u^{(i)}(b)= \lambda_ i\) is extended to the more general case. The method of mixed monotony is applied to the vector problem (1), (2).