Green's function for a locally interacting system of ordinary equations of different orders. (Q1889518)

The authors consider the locally interacting system \[ (p_1u_1'')'' = \lambda M_1' u_1, \quad x \neq \xi,\quad -(p_2u_2')' = \lambda M_2' u_2, \quad x \neq \xi, \] where \(0 < \xi < \ell\), with solutions satisfying the fastened end-point conditions \[ u_1(0) = u'_1(0) = 0, \, u_1(\ell) = u'_1(\ell) = 0, \, u_2(0) = u_2(\ell) = 0, \] as well as continuity conditions \(u_1(\xi-0) = u_1(\xi+0), u_2(\xi-0) = u_2(\xi+0),\) and \[ u_1(\xi \pm 0) = u_2(\xi \pm 0), \] and the transmission condition, \[ \Delta (p_1u_1'')'(\xi - 0) + \Delta (p_2u_2')(\xi + 0) = 0, \] where \(\Delta\varphi(\xi) := \varphi(\xi + 0) - \varphi(\xi - 0)\). They also assume \[ (p_1u_1'')(\xi-0) = (p_1u_2'')(\xi+0) = 0. \] They establish, via cone theoretic techniques, the existence of a smallest positive, simple, eigenvalue \(\lambda_0\) and a corresponding positive eigenfunction \(u^0(x)\). Furthermore, the authors state the existence of a strictly positive vector-valued function \(\varphi(x)\) that satisfies \(\varphi(x) G(\tau, s) \leq G(x, s)\) for all \(x, \tau, s \in [0, \ell]\), where \(G(x, s)\) is the Green matrix function.