A discrete Lyapunov theorem for the exponential stability of evolution families (Q2583039)

The \(C_0\)-semigroup \(T= \{T(t)\}_{t\geq 0}\) of bounded linear operators acting on a Hilbert space \(X\) is called exponentially stable if there exist \(N\), \(\nu> 0\) such that \(\| T(t)\|\leq N\exp(\nu t)\) for all \(t\geq 0\). The so-called ``Lyapunov-type'' theorem states that if the generator \(A\) of a \(C_0\)-semigroups \(T\) is bounded, then this semigroup is exponentially stable iff there exists a positive selfadjoint bounded operator \(W\) on \(X\) such that \[ \langle Ax,Wx\rangle+ \langle Wx, Ax\rangle= -\| x\|^2 \quad\text{for all }x\in D(A).\tag{1} \] The authors obtain an equivalent form of equation (1) not containing generator \(A\). Next, as the main result of the paper, the authors give a necessary and sufficient condition (an analogue of equation (1) involved only discrete time arguments) for the uniformly exponential stability of an evolution family of bounded linear operators.