Lyapunov-type inequality for a class of even-order differential equations (Q2266966)

The paper concerns necessary conditions for the existence of nonzero solutions of the \(2n\)-order linear differential equation \[ \left(r_{2n-1}\left(t\right)\left(r_{2n-2}\left(t\right)\left(\cdots\left(r_2\left(t\right)\left(r_1\left(t\right) x^\prime\right)^\prime\right)^\prime\cdots\right)^\prime\right)^\prime\right)^\prime+q\left(t\right)x=0, \] satisfying \(x^{\left(k\right)}\left(a\right)=x^{\left(k\right)}\left(b\right)=0\), for \(k=0,1,2,\dots,n-1\). The functions \(r_k\in C^{2n-k}\left(\left[a,b\right],\mathbb R\right)\), \(k=1,2,\dots,2n-1\), are assumed to be positive and \(q\in C\left(\left[a,b\right],\mathbb R\right)\). The results extend the classical Lyapunov inequalities for the case of second order linear differential equations. Various particular cases are considered as corollaries. An application to the eigenvalue problem \[ x^{\left(2k\right)}+\lambda q\left(t\right)x=0,\quad x^{\left(k\right)}\left(a\right)=x^{\left(k\right)}\left(b\right)=0,~k=0,1,2,\dots,n-1 \] presents a lower bound for the modulus of the eigenvalue \(\lambda\).