Multiplicity results for periodic solutions to delay differential equations via critical point theory (Q2576183)

Consider the system of delay differential equations \[ x'(t)=-f(x(t-r)), \tag{*} \] where \(x\in \mathbb R^n\), \(f\in C(\mathbb R^n,\mathbb R^n)\), and \(r>0\) is a given constant. The authors give a lower bound for the number of nontrivial periodic solutions with period \(4r\). First, a variational structure for (*) with periodic boundary value condition is established. It is shown that under some suitable assumptions, the existence of \(4r\)-periodic solutions \(x(t)\) to (*) satisfying \(x(t+2r)=-x(t)\) is equivalent to the existence of critical points of the variational functional. Then, the main result is obtained by using the \(\mathbb Z_2\)-geometrical index theory and related pseudo-index theory.