Quadratic Lyapunov functions and nonuniform exponential dichotomies (Q2378622)

The authors consider a nonautonomous linear system \[ x'=A(t)x. \] It is shown that (i) sufficient conditions for nonuniform exponential dichotomy can be obtained by means of quadratic Lyapunov functions; (ii) for any system with exponential dichotomy it is possible to construct the corresponding quadratic Lyapunov function. The case of uniform exponential dichotomy is treated separately. Using quadratic Lyapunov functions, it is shown that unstable systems with nonuniform exponential dichotomy remain unstable under small nonlinear perturbations.