On the basins of attraction for a class of delay differential equations with non-monotone bistable nonlinearities (Q2438097)

The authors consider the following delay differential equation, \[ \dot{x}(t)=-g(x(t))+f(x(t-\tau)), \eqno {(*)} \] where \(\tau\geq 0\), \(g\) and \(f\) are continuously differentiable functions from \(\mathbb{R}_+\) to itself satisfying \(g(0)=f(0)=0\). Though (*) is simple, it describes many phenomena in population biology and physiology. In general, delay differential equations share the same sets of equilibria as their corresponding ordinary differential equations. However, they may have different dynamical behaviors. Hence, it is natural and important to understand what kind of dynamical behaviors would be kept for the delay cases. This is a very challenging task and sometimes it is quite difficult, if not impossible, to provide complete answers. This paper gives some partial answers to (*) in the bistable case.. The dynamics of (*) in the monostable case (\(f(x)=g(x)\) has only one positive solution) is well understood. Little has been done for the bistable case, that is, \(f(x) = g(x)\) has two positive roots \(x_1<x_2\), with \(0\) and \(x_2\) being stable and \(x_1\) being unstable for the corresponding ordinary differential equation. The authors focused their attention on this case. Combining the idea of relating the dynamics of a map to the dynamics of a delay differential equation and invariance arguments for the solution semiflow, they characterize some subsets of basins of attraction of these equilibria. Moreover, they explore the existence of heteroclinic orbits.