No label defined (Q4033736)

Using the Hilbert manifold, Palais-Smale, and Mountain-Pass-Theorem techniques, the existence of a solution which asymptotically tends to a maximum point of the potential energy, both in the past and in the future, is proved in great detail. In explicit terms, the Lagrangian system \(D_{dq/dt}dq/dt = -\nabla V(q)\) (here \(D\) denotes the covariant derivative) on a compact Riemannian manifold \(M\) is investigated under the assumptions \[ V(m_ 0) = V(\partial \Omega) = 0,\quad V(m) < 0\quad (m\in\Omega/\{m_ 0\}),\quad\nabla V(m)\neq 0\quad (m\in\partial\Omega), \] where \(\Omega \subset M\) is an open subset. If the local maximum point \(m_ 0 \in M\) of the potential is nondegenerate, the existence of a solution \(q(t)\), \(-\infty < t < \infty\), satisfying \(\lim_{t\to \pm\infty}q(t) = m_ 0\), \(\lim_{t\to\pm\infty} dq(t)/dt = 0\) is proved.