A Perron-type theorem for nonautonomous differential equations with different growth rates (Q2357582)

In this paper, the \(\mu\)-Lyapunov exponents of a linear equation \[ x' = A(t)x \] with \(A \in C([0, +\infty), M_n(\mathbb{R}))\) and its perturbations \[ x' = A(t)x +f(t, x) \] are considered. The \(\mu\)-Lyapunov exponent associated with an equation is defined to be \[ \chi(x_0) = \limsup_{t\to +\infty}\frac{\log \|x(t)\|}{\log \mu(t)}, \] where \(x\) is the solution of the equation with \(x(0) = x_0\). Under suitable assumptions for the linear equation, assume that a solution of the perturbed equation satisfies \[ \|f(t, x(t))\| \leq \gamma(t)\|x(t)\| \quad \text{for } t>0, \] where \(\gamma\in C(\mathbb{R}, \mathbb{R})\) is small enough (satisfying an inequality). Then it is shown that either \(x(t) =0\) for all sufficiently large \(t\) or \(\lim_{t\to +\infty}\frac{\log\|x(t)\|}{\log\mu(t)}\) exists and coincides with a \(\mu\)-Lyapunov exponent of the linear equation. The main result is then demonstrated by various examples found from the literature.