Differential equations with involutions (Q2348138)

The monograph is devoted to differential equations with involutions and goes through discoveries related to Green's functions. It includes results which the authors have managed in recent years. Presented theoretical results are illustrated by examples. Chapter 1 summarizes general results concerning analytic and algebraic properties of involutions. A parallelism between involutions and complex numbers is demonstrated. Chapter 2 contains a brief overview of differential equations with involutions. In particular, the authors present results related to differential equations with reflection. Chapter 3 deals with the first order periodic problem with reflection \[ x'(t)+m x(-t)=h(t), \quad t\in [-T,T], \quad x(T)-x(-T)=0, \eqno(1) \] where \(m\) is a real non-zero constant, \(T\) is a real positive constant and \(h\) is Lebesgue integrable on \([-T,T]\). Problem (1) is reduced to the second order periodic problem \[ x''(t)+m^2 x(t)=f(t), \quad x(T)-x(-T)=0,\;x'(T)-x'(-T)=0, \eqno (2) \] where \(f\) is Lebesgue integrable on \([-T,T]\). Properties of the Green's functions related to problem (1) and to problem (2) are discussed, especially their explicit expressions and signs. Then applications of the reached results to the nonlinear equations \[ x'(t)=f(t, x(-t)) \quad \text{and} \quad x'(t)=f(t, x(-t), x(t)) \] and to antiperiodic or general linear boundary conditions are shown. In this way new existence results for the mentioned problems are obtained using the lower and upper solutions method or Krasnosel'skii's fixed point theorem. The authors also analyze the initial value problem and show that this specific case admits an interesting way of constructing the Green's functions. Chapter 4 discusses a more general problem containing non-constant coefficients and arbitrary differentiable involutions. This problem is reduced to that one studied in Chapter 3. The reduction is done in three steps. First the authors add a term depending on \(x(t)\) which does not change much with respect to the previous situations. Then they reduce the case of general involution to the case of the reflection using some of the knowledge gathered in Chapter 1. The last step consists in using a special change of variables which is valid just in some cases and which allows obtaining the Green's functions of problems with non-constant coefficients from the Green's functions of problems having constant coefficients. Chapter 5 studies differential problems in which the reflection operator and the Hilbert transform are involved. Such problems are reduced to ODEs and a general method for obtaining the Green's function is described. The transformations necessary to reduce the original problem to an ordinary one are of a purely algebraic nature. The authors extrapolate these properties to other algebras. In this way, they generalize the results of Chapter 3 to the case of \(n\)-th order problems and general two-point conditions. In addition they can solve functional differential problems in which the Hilbert transform or other adequate operators are involved. Chapter 6 applies the knowledge obtained in Chapter 3 to a nonlocal Hammerstein integral problem with reflection of the type \[ u(t)=\int_{-T}^T k(t,s)g(s)f(s,u(s), u(-s))\text{d} s, \] where the kernel \(k\) is allowed to change sign. The authors present conditions which guarantee the existence of at least one, two or three non-zero solutions in the cone \(K=\{u\in C[-T,T]:\min_{t\in [a,b]} u(t)\geq c \|u\|\}\), where \([a,b]\subset [-T,T]\) and \(c\in(0,1]\) are specified in these conditions. The cases of non-negative or extra positive kernels are discussed, as well. The chapter is finished by examples.