Monotone solutions of \(n\)-th order linear differential equations (Q1355803)

This paper is concerned with the existence of \((*)\)-monotone solutions for the class of \(n\)-th order linear differential equations of the form \[ x^{(n)}+q(t)x=0, \qquad t>0, \quad n\geq 2, \] where \(q\) is continuous on \((0,\infty)\) such that \((-1)^n q(t)\geq 0\) for \(t>0\) and \(q\) is not identically zero on \([a,+\infty)\) for any \(a>0\). One type of monotone solutions of differential equations appeared in several studies is the class of functions of the form \(x(t)\) which satisfy \[ x>0, x'\geq 0, x''\leq 0,x^{(3)}\geq 0,\dots, (-1)^{n+1} x^{(n)}\geq 0. \] Such a function is said to be \((*)\)-monotone for convenience. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of monotone solutions is obtained by considering a vector equation which reduces to Riccati's equation in the case \(n=2\). This idea leads in a natural and computationally elegant way to a sharp Hille-Wintner type inequality for the existence of monotone solutions.