Fredholm alternative for periodic-Dirichlet problems for linear hyperbolic systems (Q2642120)

The authors consider the linear inhomogeneous hyperbolic system \[ \partial_t u+\partial_x u +a(x)u+b(x)v= f(x,t) \] \[ \partial_t v-\partial_x v +c(x)u+d(x)v= g(x,t) \] with \((x,t)\in [0,1]\times (-\infty,\infty)\), with reflection boundary conditions \[ u(0,t)=r_0 v(0,t),\;\;v(1,t)=r_1 u(1,t). \] The forcing functions \(f(x,t)\), \(g(x,t)\) are assumed to be \(\frac{2\pi}{\omega}\)-periodic with respect to time \(t\), and one asks about the existence of solutions \(u(x,t),v(x,t)\) which are also \(\frac{2\pi}{\omega}\)-time-periodic. The authors construct, under the assumption that \(a,d\in L^\infty[0,1]\), \(b,c\in BV[0,1]\), a functional-analytic framework in which they can prove that if \(| r_0r_1| \neq e^{\int_0^1 (a(x)+d(x))dx}\) then the problem satisfies a Fredholm alternative, that is the left-hand side of the equations defines a Fredholm operator of index \(0\). The type of equations studied arises in the modeling of semiconductor lasers, and, as the authors note, establishing the Fredholm property is essential for applying results of nonlinear functional analysis to equations whose linearization is of this form.