Sharp estimates for the periods and amplitudes of periodic solutions to differential equations with delay (Q2377511)

Consider the system of differential-delay equations \[ {dx\over dt}= f(x(\tau(t))),\tag{1} \] where \(x\in\mathbb{R}^n\) and \(f: \mathbb{R}^n\to\mathbb{R}^n\), under the assumption (A) \(\tau:\mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) is piecewise continuous, \(f\) satisfies the Lipschitz condition \[ \| f_i(x)- f_i(y)\|\leq L\| x-y\|\text{ or }|f_i(x)- f_i(y)|\leq L|x-y|,\tag{2} \] where \(\|.\|\) is the Euclidean norm and \(|x|= \max(|x_1|,|x_2|,\dots,|x_n|)\). The author proves that if (1) has a nonconstant periodic solution, then under the assumption (A) the minimal period \(T\) satisfies \(T\geq 4/L\), and this estimate is sharp. If the condition (2) is replaced by \[ \| f_i(x)- f_i(y)\|\leq L\| x-y\|^\alpha\text{ or }|f_i(x)- f_i(y)|\leq L(x- y|^\alpha \] with \(\alpha\in (0,1)\), the author provides a lower bound for \(T\) by means of the amplitude and an upper bound for the amplitude by means of \(T\). All the estimates are sharp.