No label defined (Q3836682)

The present paper is devoted to the construction of Lyapunov functions for \(n\)-dimensional autonomous differential systems of the form \[ dx /dt= -f(x),\tag{1} \] where \(f(0)=0\) and \(f(x)\) satisfies all requirements providing the existence and uniqueness of solutions to system (1) for given initial conditions. A Lyapunov function of system (1) is constructed directly from its right-hand side, and it yields the Hurwitz stability conditions in the linear case. Let \(D\) be a constant \(n\times n\) square matrix such that \(V= (y,Dy)\) is a positive definite quadratic form in an \(n\)-vector \(y\). The main results can be stated as follows. Theorem 1. If the condition \(\text{grad} V=Df(x)\) holds for some continuous function \(V(x)\) with \(V(0)=0\), and \((Df(x),x) >0\) for all \(x\), then \(V(x)\) is a positive definite function, and the Lyapunov function of system (1) can be chosen in the form \(V=\int^t_0 (Df(x),\dot x)d \tau\). Theorem 2. Let \(A\) be an \(n\times n\) square constant matrix and \(D\) be a skew-symmetric \(n\times n\) square matrix with positive diagonal entries. If the symmetric matrix \(DA\) is positive definite, then the zero solution of the system (1) with \(f(x)=Ax\) is asymptotically stable. The special case of system (1) with \(f(x)=A(x)x\), where \(A(x)\) is an \(n\times n\) square matrix, and an illustrating example are also discussed in the paper.