A continuation lemma and the existence of periodic solutions of perturbed planar Hamiltonian systems with sub-quadratic potentials (Q1741795)

The authors study the existence of periodic solutions for a planar system of the type \[ x'=f(y)+p_1(t,x,y),\quad y'=-g(x)+p_2(t,x,y), \] where $f,g:{\mathbb R}\to {\mathbb R}$ are continuous, and $p_1,p_2:{\mathbb R}^3\to {\mathbb R}$ are continuous, bounded, and $T$-periodic with respect to the first variable. \par Concerning the function $f$, it is assumed that the quotient $f(y)/y$ is controlled by some constants at $\pm\infty$, while $g$ satisfies a sign condition and a one-sided growth restricion, which in the simplest case reads as \[ \liminf_{x\to+\infty}\frac{1}{x^2}\int_0^x g(s)\,ds=0\,. \] The proofs use topological degree arguments.