Infinitely many periodic solutions for asymptotically linear Hamiltonian systems (Q370861)

The author considers the second-order Hamiltonian system \[ u''(t)+A(t)u(t)+\nabla H(t,u(t))=0,\;\;\;\;\;t\in \mathbb{R}, \] where \(H:\mathbb{R}\times \mathbb{R}^N\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is \(T\)-periodic in \(t\), \(H\) is continuous in \(t\) for each \(x\in \mathbb{R}^N\) and continuously differentiable in \(x\) for each \(t\in [0,T]\). The symmetric \(N\times N\) matrix \(A(t)\) depends continuously and \(T\)-periodically on \(t\in \mathbb{R}\). The main results of the paper are contained in four theorems which yield the existence of infinitely many periodic solutions under various assumptions on \(H\), in addition to being even in \(x\) and subquadratic at zero, i.e., \([H(t,x)-H(t,0)]/|x|^2\rightarrow +\infty\) as \(|x|\rightarrow 0\) uniformly in \(t\). It generalizes the results in [\textit{W. Zou} and \textit{S. Li}, J. Differential Equations 186, 141--164 (2002)]; [\textit{C.-L. Tang} and \textit{X.-P. Wu}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 275, No. 2, 870--882 (2002; Zbl 1043.34045)]. In contrast with the existing ones, the theorems here allow the nonlinearity \(\nabla H\) to have a sublinear growth behavior at infinity, that is, \[ \lim_{|x|\rightarrow \infty}\frac{|\nabla H(t,x)|}{|x|}=0. \] The proofs are based on the minimax technique in critical point theory.