Transient spectral theory, stable and unstable cones and Gershgorins theorem for finite-time differential equations (Q2430954)

This interesting paper gives an approach to finite-time hyperbolicity of nonautonomous linear ordinary differential equations \[ \dot x=A(t)x \] in \({\mathbb R^d}\). Its dynamical behavior on a compact time interval is called \(M\)-\textit{hyperbolic} (\(M\) stands for monotone) if there exists an invariant splitting consisting of solutions with monotonically decreasing or increasing respective norms; this notion of hyperbolicity is norm dependent. Yet, for arbitrary norms a finite-time spectral theorem based on \(M\)-hyperbolicity is shown, and Gershgorin's circle theorem is extended to this kind of spectrum. In addition, \(M\)-hyperbolicity is characterized by means of stable and unstable cones, which resemble the stable and unstable integral manifolds known from the classical infinite-time case. These cones allow an explicit computation in the case of so-called \(D\)-hyperbolic systems for which the norm is induced by positively symmetric matrices, and for row diagonally dominant systems in the \(\sup\)-norm. This yields sufficient and verifiable conditions for \(M\)-hyperbolicity. An example illustrates these criteria.