Some existence results on periodic and subharmonic solutions of ordinary \(p\)-Laplacian systems (Q2272145)

Consider the ordinary \(p\)-Laplacian systems \[ -(|u'(t)|^{p-2}u'(t))'=\nabla F(t,u(t)) \tag{1} \] where \(p>1\), \(F:\mathbb R\times \mathbb R^N\to \mathbb R\) is \(T\)-periodic in its first variable with \(T>0\) and satisfies the following assumption: (\textbf{A}) \(F(t,x)\) is measurable in \(t\) for all \(x\in \mathbb R^N,\) continuously differentiable in \(x\) for a. e. \(t\in[0,T]\) and there exist \(a\in C(\mathbb R^+,\mathbb R^+)\), \(b\in L^1(0,T;\mathbb R^+)\) such that \[ |F(t,x)|+|\nabla F(t,x)|\leq a(|x|)b(t) \] for all \(x\in \mathbb R^N\) and a. e. \(t\in[0,T].\) In this paper, by using the saddle point theorem in critical point theory, the authors obtain some existence results for periodic and subharmonic solutions of ordinary \(p\)-Laplacian systems (1). The main results are the following. Theorem 1. Suppose that \(F\) satisfies assumption (\textbf{A}), and there exist \(0<\mu<p,\) \(M>0,\) such that \[ (\nabla F(t,x),x)\leq\mu F(t,x)\text{ for all }|x|\geq M\text{ and a. e. } t\in[0,T]. \tag{2} \] Assume that there exists \(g\in L^1(0,T;\mathbb R^N)\) such that \[ F(t,x)\geq g(t)\text{ for all }x\in \mathbb R^N\text{ and a. e. } t\in[0,T], \] and that there exists a subset \(E\) of \([0,T]\) with \(meas(E) > 0,\) such that \[ F(t,x)\to+\infty \text{ as } |x|\to \infty \text{ for a. e. }t\in E. \] Then system (1) has a \(kT\)-periodic solution \(u_k\in W^{1,p}_{kT}\) for every integer \(k\) such that \(\|u_k\|_{\infty}:=\max_{t\in[0,kT]}|u_k(t)|\to \infty\) as \(k\to\infty,\) where \[ W^{1,p}_{kT}=\{u:[0,kT]\mapsto \mathbb R^N\mid u\text{ is absolutely continuous, } u(0)=u(kT)\text{ and }u'\in L^p(0,kT;\mathbb R^N)\} \] is a Sobolev space with the the norm \[ \|u\|=\left(\int_0^{kT}|u|^pdt+\int_0^{kT}|u'|^pdt\right)^{\frac{1}{p}} \text{ for } u\in W^{1,p}_{kT}. \] Theorem 2. Suppose that \(F\) satisfies assumption (\textbf{A}) and the following conditions: \[ \lim_{|x|\to\infty}[(\nabla F(t,x),x)-pF(t,x)]=-\infty \text{ uniformly for a. e. }t\in[0,T], \tag{3} \] \[ \lim_{|x|\to\infty} \frac{F(t,x)}{|x|^p}=0 \text{ uniformly for a. e. }t\in[0,T]. \] Then system (1) has a \(kT\)-periodic solution \(u_k\in W^{1,p}_{kT}\) for every integer \(k\) such that \(\|u_k\|_{\infty} \to \infty\) as \(k\to\infty.\) Theorem 3. Suppose that \(F\) satisfies assumption (\textbf{A}), (3) and the following condition: \[ 0\leq\liminf_{|x|\to\infty} \frac{F(t,x)}{|x|^p} \leq\limsup_{|x|\to\infty} \frac{F(t,x)}{|x|^p}\leq\frac{1}{pc^p} \] uniformly for some \(c >c_0\) and a. e. \(t\in[0,T],\) where \(c_0:=\sup_{u\in{W^{1,p}_T}\setminus \mathbb R^N}\frac{\|\tilde{u}\|_{L^p}}{\|u'\|_{L^p}}<+\infty,\;\tilde{u}=u(t)-\frac{1}{T}\int^T_0u(t)dt,\;u\in{W^{1,p}_T},\;\|\cdot\|_{L^p}\) is the usual \(L^p\)-norm of \(L^p(0,T:\mathbb R^N)\). Then system (1) has at least one \(T\)-periodic solution in \(W^{1,p}_{T}.\) Here, Theorem 1 generalizes Theorem 1 of [\textit{B. Xu} and \textit{C.-L. Tang}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 333, No.~2, 1228--1236 (2007; Zbl 1154.34331)]. Theorem 2 and Theorem 3 generalize Theorem 1 and Theorem 2 of [\textit{Q. Jiang} and \textit{C.-L. Tang}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 328, No.~1, 380--389 (2007; Zbl 1118.34038)].