Periodic solutions of non-autonomous second order systems with \(\gamma\)- quasisubadditive potential (Q1892499)

The author considers the vector differential equation \(u''(t)= \nabla F(t, u(t))\) in \(0\leq t\leq T\) with periodic boundary conditions \(u(0)= u(T)\), \(u'(0)= u'(T)\). The function \(F(t, x)= F(t, x_ 1,\dots, x_ m)\) is measurable in \(t\) for \(x\) fixed, continuously differentiable for almost every \(t\) fixed and satisfies certain growth conditions. The problem is existence of a solution that minimizes the functional \[ \phi(u)= \int^ T_ 0 (\textstyle{{1\over 2}} | u'(t)|^ 2+ F(t, u(t))) dt. \] Existence is proved under growth conditions on the potential \(F(t, x)\); roughly speaking, \(F(t, x)= F_ 1(t, x)+ F_ 2(t, x)\), where \(F\) and \(F_ 2\) satisfy summability conditions on \(t\) and \(F(t, x)\) is \(\gamma\)-quasisubadditive in \(x\) (this means \(F(t, x+ y)\leq \gamma(F(t,x )+ F(t, y)))\) for almost all \(t\). The results have applications to Hamiltonian systems.