Periodic solutions of asymptotically linear second order equations with indefinite weight (Q2505614)

The paper deals with the investigation of the equation \[ \ddot{x}+q(t)g(x)=0, \] where \(q: \mathbb R\to\mathbb R\) is \(\pi\)-periodic with \(q(t)\geq 0,\) \(t\in[0,\omega]\) and \(q(t)\leq 0,\) \(t\in[\omega,\pi],\) for some \(\omega\in[0,\pi].\) Also \(g\) is a continuous real-valued function such that \(g(x)\) has the sign of \(x\) and \(g(x)/x\) is bounded. The authors provide sufficient conditions for the existence of the following items: 1) Two periodic solutions having a prescribed period and with known number of their zeros in integral multiples of the intervals \([0,\omega]\) and \([\omega,\pi],\) as well as the number of sign changes of their derivatives in these intervals. 2) Two bounded solutions with similar characteristics in the intervals above. The main results are formulated in Section 2 and two illustrating examples are prescribed. In Section 3, an abstract fixed-point theorem [borrowed from the literature \textit{D. Papini} and \textit{F. Zanolin}, Georgian Math. J. 9, No. 2, 339--366 (2002; Zbl 1015.37027)] concerning planar systems is presented, while the proof of the results are actually given in Sections 4 to 6.