Twin positive solutions of boundary value problems for functional differential equations (Q2467688)

This paper is concerned with the existence of positive solutions for the functional differential equations \[ x'=f(t, x_t)\text{ a.e. }t\in [0, T], x_0=x_T \] and \[ x''=f(t, x_t, x'(t))\text{ a.e. }t\in [0, T], x(T)=\eta, x(t)=\varphi(t), t\in [-a, 0], \] where \(f: J\times C([-a, 0], {\mathbb R}^n)\to {\mathbb R}^n\), \(J=[0, T]\) is a compact real interval, \(\varphi\in C([-a, 0], {\mathbb R}^n)\) and \(\eta\in {\mathbb R}^n\). By using a fixed point theorem due to \textit{H. Amann} [SIAM Rev. 18, 620--709 (1976; Zbl 0345.47044)], sufficient conditions for the existence of the above boundary value problems are presented under some suitable assumptions on \(f\). Two examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the results.