The archetypal equation and its solutions attaining the global extremum (Q2029456)

The paper is devoted to the functional equation \[ \varphi(x)=\int\int_{\mathbb{R}^2}\varphi(a(x-b))\mu(da,db), \tag{1} \] where \(\mu\) is a Borel probability measure on \(\mathbb{R}^2\) and \(\varphi\colon\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) is an unknown function. This equation was introduced by \textit{G. Derfel} [Ukr. Math. J. 41, 1137--1141 (1989; Zbl 0713.45003)]. More recently the study of this equation was continued, e.g., by \textit{L.V. Bogachev} et al. [Proc. R. Soc. A471, 1--19 (2015; Zbl 1371.60110)] and the name \textit{archetypal equation} was coined for (\(1\)). The present paper is devoted to study the bounded continuous solutions of (\(1\)). The main result states that (under some mild assumptions on the measure \(\mu\)) every bounded continuous solution of equation (\(1\)) attaining its global extremum must be a constant mapping. The proof of that takes more than eleven pages and requires a lot of persistence in considering several cases. Additionally, some description of the behavior of non-constant bounded continuous solutions is given.