On the properties of semigroups generated by Volterra integro-differential equations with kernels representable by Stieltjes integrals (Q2244109)

The author studies the well-posed solvability of the following integro-differential equation in a separable Hilbert space: \[ \frac {d^2 u(t)}{dt^2} + (A+B)u(t)- \int_0^t K_1(t-s) Au(s)\, ds - \int_0^t K_2(t-s)Bu(s) ds = f(t), \] \(t\in \mathbb R_+,\) \(u(0+)=\varphi(0),\) \(u^{(1)}(0+)= \varphi_1\). This is an operator model of an integro-partial differential equation arising in the theory of viscoelasticity. Here \(A\) is a positive and \(B\) is a nonnegative self-adjoint operator such that \(\|Bx\| \leq \kappa \|Ax\| \) for all \(x\in D(A)\). The kernels \(K_i\) are completely monotone and \(\int_0^\infty K_i(t)\, dt < 1\), \(i=1,2\). The approach considered in this paper is to reduce the equation to a Cauchy problem for a first-order differential equation in an extended Hilbert space and then show that this equation generates a contraction semigroup.