The monotone method for second order problems with linear and nonlinear boundary conditions (Q1355045)

The author considers two types of nonlinear second-order differential equations defined on finite intervals and subjected to certain linear or nonlinear boundary conditions, and gives some sufficient conditions which guarantee the existence of a solution. In the first case, the differential equation is \[ u''(t)= f(t,u(t),u'(t))\quad\text{for a.e. }t\in[a,b], \] while the boundary conditions are nonlinear as follows: \[ L_1(u(a),u(b),u'(a),u'(b))=0,\quad L_2(u(a),u(b))=0. \] Here \(L_1\) and \(L_2\) stand for continuous functions which satisfy certain monotony conditions. The author supposes that \(u\in W^{2,p}([a,b])\) with \(p\geq 1\) and \(f(t,x,y)\) is a Carathéodory function. To approximate the extremal solutions, he develops a monotone method. In the second case, the differential equation is \[ u''(t)= f(t,u(t))\quad\text{for a.e. }t\in[0,T], \] while the boundary conditions are linear of the form either \[ p_0u(0)- q_0u'(0)= N_0,\quad p_1u(T)+ q_1u'(T)= N_1 \] or \[ a_0u(0)- b_0u(T)= L_0,\quad a_1u'(0)- b_1u'(T)= L_1, \] where \(a_i\), \(b_i\), \(p_i\), \(q_i\), \(N_i\) and \(L_i\) are given numbers. For this type, he supposes \(u\in w^{2,1}([0,T])\) and develops two new concepts of upper and lower solutions for which the monotone method mentioned above is valid. The results obtained in the present paper are some generalizations of the results obtained previously by the author himself and others.