A higher-order multi-point boundary value problem in the resonance case (Q2459783)

The paper deals with the \(n\)-th order differential equation \[ x^{(n)}(t)=f(t,x(t),\dots,x^{(n-1)}(t)), \quad t\in (0,1), \tag{1} \] subject to multipoint boundary conditions \[ x(0)=\alpha x(\xi),\quad x^{(i)}(0)=0,\quad x^{(n-1)}(1)=\sum_{j=1}^{m-2}\beta_jx^{(n-1)}(\eta_j), \tag{2} \] where \(i=1,\dots,n-2\), \(f:[0,1]\times\mathbb R^n\to\mathbb R\) is continuous, \(\alpha=0\) or \(\alpha=1\), \(\beta_j>0\), \(j=1,\dots,m-2\), \(\sum_{j=1}^{m-2}\beta_j=1\), \(\xi\in(0,1)\) and \(0<\eta_1<\dots <\eta_{m-2}<1\). The cases \(\alpha=0\) and \(\alpha=1\), where problem (1), (2) is at resonance, are considered. Note that problem (1), (2) is at resonance if the corresponding linear homogeneous problem has nontrivial solutions. The authors prove existence theorems for (1), (2) provided \(f\) has at most linear growth with sufficiently small coefficients. The proofs are based on Mawhin's coincidence degree theory. One illustrative example is shown.