Positive solutions of singular differential equations on measure chains (Q2485496)

The two main theorems in this paper give sufficient conditions for the existence of positive solutions to the following nonlinear Sturm--Liouville-type problem on a measure chain (= time scale) on the interval \([a, b]\) \[ \begin{aligned}[\rho(t) x^\Delta (t)]^\Delta + \lambda m(t) f(t, x(\sigma(t))) &= 0, \quad t \in [a, b],\\ \alpha x(a) - \beta x^\Delta (a) &= 0,\\ \gamma x(\sigma(b)) + \delta x^\Delta (\sigma(b)) &= 0. \end{aligned} \] Here, \(\sigma\) denotes the forward jump operator and, for a function \(y: [a, \sigma^2(b)] \to {\mathbb R}\), the symbol \(y^\Delta\) denotes the \(\Delta\)-derivative associated with the given measure chain (in the sense of Aulbach and Hilger). Also, \(\alpha, \beta, \gamma, \delta\) are given constants, and \(\lambda\) is an eigenvalue parameter. (Special attention is given to \(\lambda = 1\).) Finally, \(\rho, m\) and \(f\) are given functions, \(\rho(t) > 0\) for \(a \leq t \leq \sigma(b)\), and various technical conditions concerning these functions have to be satisfied. Earlier results in this direction are generalized mainly because the weight function \(m(t)\) is admitted to exhibit singular behavior at the boundary. Concerning the nonlinearity \(f\), both superlinear and sublinear cases are treated. The proofs utilize some recent results on the calculation of the topological fixed-point index for completely continuous self-maps of cones.