The method of lower and upper solutions for third-order periodic boundary value problems (Q1910021)

The monotone method is developed for the problem (1) \((L_n u\equiv) u^{(n)}+ \sum^{n-1}_{i=1} a_i u^{(i)}= f(t,u)\) for a.e. \(t\in [0,2\pi ]\), (2) \(u^{(i)} (0)= u^{(i)} (2\pi)\), \(i=0, 1, \dots, n-1\), where \(a_i\in \mathbb{R}\), \(n\geq 2\), \(f\) is a Carathéodory function. The method is based on the assumption that the Green function \(G(t, s)\) of the problem \(L_n u+ Mu=0\), (2) is nonnegative in \([0,2\pi ]\times [0,2\pi ]\) and the function \(f(t, u)+ Mu\) is nondecreasing in \(u\in \mathbb{R}\). Further the existence of solutions for (1), (2) is assured when \(f\) satisfies a weaker condition than that given above. Finally the optimal estimates for the coefficients of the third order problem (1), (2) are obtained which guarantee the validity of the monotone method.