Periodic solutions of quasi-differential equations (Q1917537)

The authors obtain sufficient conditions for the existence of a solution of the nonlinear periodic boundary value problem \(- (\rho u')' + hu = f(t,u)\), for a.e. \(t \in I = [0,2 \pi] \), \(u(0) = u(2 \pi)\), \(u'(0) = u' (2 \pi)\), where \(\rho \in W^{1,1} (I)\) (Sobolev space of first order), \(\rho (t) \geq \rho_0 > 0\), \(\rho (0) = \rho (2 \pi)\), \(h \in L^1 (I)\), \(h \geq 0\) for a.e. \(t \in I\) and \(h(t) > 0\) on a subset of \(I\) of positive measure and \(f : I \times\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) satisfies the Carathéodory conditions. They also show that the existence of lower and upper solutions with \(\alpha \leq \beta\) is a sufficient condition for the existence of a solution of the above problem in the sector \(\{u \in W^{1,1} (I) : \alpha (t) \leq u(t) \leq \beta (t)\) for all \(t \in I\}\).