On the sharpness of a theorem by Cooke and Verduyn Lunel (Q1916721)

The authors consider the initial value problem (1) \(x'(t) = A(t) x(t) + B(t) x(t - 1)\), \(t \geq 0\), \(x_0 (t) = x(t) = \varphi (t), - 1 \leq t < 0\). A solution \(x(t)\) is called small if \(\lim_{t \to \infty} x(t) e^{kt} = 0\) for every \(k \in R\). \textit{K. Cooke} and \textit{S. M. Verduyn Lunel} [Differential Integral Equ. 6, 1101-1117 (1993; Zbl 0782.34068)] proved a theorem about small solutions of (1). In this paper the authors show that boundedness of the coefficients on the whole line and its analyticity are essential for the validity of that theorem.