Periodic solutions for a class of non-autonomous Newton differential equations (Q2186707)

The authors investigate the existence of \(2\pi\)-periodic solutions of the second-order differential equation \[ \ddot{x} = - \nabla_{x} V(t,x), \quad x\in\mathbb{R}^{n}, \] where \(V(t, x) = \frac{\|x\|^{2}}{2} + \varepsilon W(t,x)\), with \(W(t,x)\) a \(2\pi\)-periodic function in the \(t\)-variable, \(\varepsilon\neq0\) a real parameter. Sufficient conditions for the existence of \(2\pi\)-periodic solutions are provided (see Theorem 1). The proof is based on averaging theory applied to periodic solutions. Some applications are also discussed.