Minimal and maximal solutions to first-order differential equations with state-dependent deviated arguments (Q361189)

The authors consider the following initial value problem for a first-order functional differential equation \[ x'(t)=f(t,x(t),x(\tau(t,x)))\enskip \text{for a.a.} \enskip t\in I_0, \] \[ x(t)=\Lambda(x)+k(t), \enskip t\in I_{-}, \] where \(I_0 =[t_0,t_0 +L]\), \(I_{-}=[t_0 -r,t_0]\), \(L>0\), \(r>0\), \(I=I_0 \cup I_{-}\), \(f:I\times \mathbb R^2\to \mathbb R\), \(\tau :I_0\times C(I)\to I\) are Carathéodory functions, \(\Lambda: C(I) \to \mathbb R\) a continuous nonlinear operator and \(k: I_{-}\to \mathbb R\) a continuous function. Under a new consideration of the concepts of lower and upper solutions the authors prove some existence results for solutions between given lower and upper solutions to this initial value problem. It is noticed that the concepts of upper and lower solutions given here are new, different of the classical ones. So, similar results with the classical definitions are false. Several illuminating examples are also given.