Merging homoclinic solutions due to state-dependent delay (Q2342719)

This paper has as a starting point the equation \[ x'(t)=-ax(t-1),\, a\in \left(\frac{\pi}{2}, \frac{5\pi}{2}\right), \] which is known to be unstable and hyperbolic. In a recent previous paper [Adv. Differ. Equ. 19, No. 9--10, 911--946 (2014; Zbl 1300.34162)] the author, for \(a\) in a small interval \((a_1, \frac{5\pi}{2})\), constructed a state dependent delay \(d_Q(\phi)\) on an open set \(Q\) in the space \(C[-2,0])\), so that the equation \[ x'(t)=-ax(t-d_Q(x_t))\enskip\quad (\ast) \] has a homoclinic solution \(h:\mathbb R\to\mathbb R\) with \(h\neq 0\) and \(h(t)\to 0\) as \(| t| \to \infty\). Here, among others, the main result is that the equation \((\ast)\) has a one-parameter family of pairwise different homoclinic solutions \(c^[r]:\mathbb R\to\mathbb R\), \(| r| <r_U\), which merge at some \(t=t_y >0\), so that \(c^[r](t)=c^[0](t)\) for all \(r\in (-r_U,r_U )\) and \(t\geq t_y\). An extensive and very enlightening introduction is given in the beginning of the paper about the considered problem.