Existence and continuation of periodic solutions of autonomous Newtonian systems (Q2576195)

This article is devoted to the study of existence and continuation of nonstationary periodic solutions of the autonomous Newtonian systems \[ -x'' = \nabla V(x) \] and \[ -x'' = \nabla V_\lambda (x), \] respectively. Here, \(V,V_\lambda \in C^2( \mathbb{R}^N,\mathbb{R})\) and \(\lambda \in \mathbb{R}\) is a parameter. Solutions of these problems are obtained as critical points of an \(SO(2)\)-invariant functional defined on a Hilbert space, which is an orthogonal representation of the group \(SO(2)\). The gradient of this functional is an \(SO(2)\)-equivariant \(C^1\)-operator having the form of a compact perturbation of the identity. To get their results, the authors apply an infinite-dimensional version of the degree for \(SO(2)\)-equivariant gradient operators. The authors also emphasize that the Leray-Schauder degree cannot be directly used in this situation.