Optimal estimates on rotation number of almost periodic systems (Q2490696)

Consider the following two second-order ordinary differential equations: the linear equation (i) \(\ddot{x}+p\left(t\right)x=0\), and the asymmetric equation (ii) \(\ddot{x}+p\left(t\right)x_{+}+q\left(t\right)x_{-}=0\), where \(p\left(t\right)\) and \(q\left(t\right)\) are almost-periodic functions and \(x_{+}=\max\{x,0\}\), \(x_{-}=\min\{x,0\}\). Upper bounds for the rotation number of the solutions for both cases are obtained by introducing suitable averaged \(L^{\alpha}\) norms of the coefficients. The estimates are based on a result due to \textit{M. Zhang} and \textit{W. Li} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 130, No.~11, 3325--3333 (2002; Zbl 1007.34053)], concerning the distance between consecutive zeroes of a nontrivial solution of the equation (i). The optimality of these estimates for both equations is shown. The ergodicity arguments in \textit{R. Johnson} and \textit{J. Moser} [Commun. Math. Phys. 84, 403--438 (1982, Zbl 0497.35026)] are generalized in order to introduce a well-defined rotation number for the equation (ii), which is shown to be a constant on the hull of \(\left(p\left(t\right),q\left(t\right)\right)\) in \(\mathcal{AP}^2\), the space of pairs of almost-periodic functions. The rotation number is defined as the time average of the argument function. An estimate is obtained in terms of an \(L^{\alpha}\) norm mixing alternatively the values of \(p\left(t\right)\) and \(q\left(t\right)\) on consecutive intervals.