N-cyclic functions and multiple subharmonic solutions of Duffing's equation (Q414405)

The problem of existence and multiplicity of periodic solutions of the forced Duffing equation \[ x''+g(x)+cx'=f(t), \] both in the undamped (\(c=0\)) and the damped case, has a long story. A surprising result is that all solutions of the undamped equation are bounded when \(g\) has a cubic nonlinearity (existence of infinitely many subharmonic solutions of any order). On the other hand, the existence of antiperiodic solutions is closely related to this problem. It is known that if \(g\) is odd, convex and increasing for positive values of the argument, then all solutions of the autonomous equation \[ x''+g(x)=0 \] are antiperiodic. The present paper states an interesting generalizations of related facts. The antiperiodicity is generalized to a notion called \(N\)-cyclicity (\(N\) is an odd integer). The main result states that the non-existence of \(N\)-cyclic solutions of a certain type for the autonomous equation \(x''+g(x)=0\) implies the existence of \(N\) different subharmonic solutions for some forced equation of the type \(x''+g(x)+cx'=\varepsilon f(t)\), where \(c\) and \(\varepsilon\) are some positive constants and \(f\) is, for instance, the sinusoidal function.