On existence of oscillatory solutions of second order Emden-Fowler equations (Q1868798)

The authors study the second-order Emden-Fowler equation \[ y''+a|y|^\gamma \text{sgn} y=0, \quad \gamma>0,\;\gamma\neq 1,\tag{1} \] where \(a\) is a positive absolutely continuous function on \((0, \infty)\). Let \(\phi\) be the function defined by \(\phi(x)=a(x) x^{\frac{\gamma+3}{2}}\), and assume that \(\phi\) is bounded away from zero at infinity. Under this condition, the main result of the paper says that if the negative part of \(\phi'\), \(\phi_{-}'(x)=-\min(\phi'(x), 0)\), belongs to \(L^1(0, \infty)\), then equation (1) has oscillatory solutions (that is, solutions with arbitrary large zeroes). The authors provide an example that shows that this result, being applicable to nonmonotonous functions \(\phi\), strictly extends previous results of \textit{M. Jasny} [Cas. Pest. Mat. 85, 78-82 (1960; Zbl 0113.07603)], \textit{J. Kurzweil} [Cas. Pest. Mat. 85, 357-358 (1960; Zbl 0129.06204)], \textit{J. W. Heidel} and \textit{D. B. Hinton} [SIAM J. Math. Anal. 3, 344-351 (1972; Zbl 0243.34062)], \textit{L. H. Erbe} and \textit{J. S. Muldowney} [Ann. Mat. Pura Appl., IV. Ser. 109, 23-38 (1976; Zbl 0345.34022)], and \textit{K. Chiou} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 35, 120-122 (1972; Zbl 0262.34026)].