Periodic solutions to singular second-order differential equations: the repulsive case (Q353459)

The paper deals with the ordinary second-order differential equation on the interval \([0,\omega]\subset\mathbb R\) \[ u''(t)+f(u(t))u'(t)+g(u(t))=h(t,u(t)) \leqno(1) \] subject to the periodic conditions \[ u(0)=u(\omega),\quad u'(0)=u'(\omega). \leqno (2) \] The authors assume that \(f\) and \(g\) are continuous on \((0,\infty)\) and may have singularities at 0, and that \(h\) satisfies the Carathéodory conditions on \([0,\omega]\times [0,\infty)\). The paper is devoted to the case that \(g\) has the repulsive singularity, that is \(\lim_{x\to 0+}g(x)=-\infty\). As a model of equation (1) they consider the special case \[ u''(t)+f(u(t))u'(t)+\frac{g_1}{u^\nu(t)} - \frac{g_2}{u^\gamma(t)}=h_0(t,u^\delta(t)), \] where \(\nu, \gamma \in (0,\infty)\), \(g_1,g_2,\delta \in [0,\infty)\), \(h_0\in L[0,\omega]\) and \(f\in C(0,\infty)\). The case of the repulsive singularity means here that \(\gamma>\nu\) or \(\gamma=\nu\) and \(g_1<g_2\). The main result (Th. 2.1) contains sufficient conditions for the existence of at least one positive solution to problem (1) and (2). The proof is based on a fixed point formulation of the problem, some a priori estimates and the Schaefer fixed point theorem. The main result is applied to the Rayleigh-Plesset equation.