No label defined (Q4950528)

The book provides a systematic account of the basic theory of linear systems of differential equations with variable coefficients. It consists of 5 chapters with the following headings: 1. Systems of linear differential equations; 2. Reducible systems with respect to various transformation groups (\({\mathcal G}\)-reducible systems); 3. Controllable and observable systems; 4. Canonical forms of controllable and observable systems; 5. Quasilinear systems. The author first discusses some standard results from the theory of linear systems such as existence, uniqueness, and stability. Building on the idea of reduction to stationary form with respect to an abstract group of linear transforms, he gives then a unified approach to Lyapunov-reducible systems, systems with periodic coefficients, so-called regular systems, and systems which may be reduced by means of groups of almost-periodic, polynomial, or orthogonal transformations. Afterwards completely controllable and uniformly controllable and observable systems are considered, and sufficient conditions are provided under which a system is controllable or observable in classes of Chebyshev polynomials or distributions of finite order. Moreover, applications to stabilization problems and spectral control are given. Finally, the author also considers stability, controllability, and observability of nonlinear systems by means of their linearizations. The main interest of the book consists in its unified view on several apparently independent phenomena of the general theory, methods and applications of linear nonstationary systems. The book could be of some interest to all specialists in differential equations, linear mechanics, and control theory.