Dynamics of a nonstandard finite-difference scheme for delay differential equations with unimodal feedback (Q450401)

This paper deals with the behaviour of special finite difference schemes for the numerical solution of delay differential equations with an unimodal feedback. The systems under consideration have the form \( \dot{x} (t) = - a x(t) + f( x(t - \tau)) \), \( t \geq 0\) where \( a, \tau \) are fixed positive constants and the unimodal delay feedback function satisfies: \( f(0)=0,\) \( f(u) \geq 0\) for \( u >0\), and there exist a unique \( u_0>0\) such that \( f'(u_0)=0\) and \(f'(u) >0, f''(u)<0\) for all \( u \in [0, u_0]\), \( f'(u)<0\) for \(u>u_0\) and \( \lim_{u \to + \infty} f(u) = 0\). The (non standard) finite difference schemes under consideration have the form \( x_{n+1} 0 x_n + \phi (h) [ - a x_n + f( x_{n-m})] \) where \( h = \tau /m\) is the step size and \( \phi (h) = ( 1- \exp ( a \tau h))/(a \tau)\) the step size function. An study ot the asymptotic behaviour of solutions of the above difference scheme is carried out depending on the available parameters. In addition some numerical experiments for \( f(z) = b z \exp ( - c z )\) with \( b, c >0\) are also presented.