Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for the Oscillation of a Second Order Linear Differential Equation (Q4954313)

Oscillatory properties of the second-order differential equation \[ y''+p(t)y=0 \tag{*} \] are investigated using the Riccati technique. A typical result is the following statement: Suppose that \(\int_t^\infty p(s) ds\geq 0\) for large \(t\) and \(T_P(v(t)):=P(t)+\int_t^\infty v^2(s) ds\) for \(v\in L^2[t_0,\infty)\). Equation (*) is nonoscillatory if and only if \[ \lim_{n\to \infty}T^n_P(P(t))\in L^2[t_0,\infty), \] where \(T_P^n\) denotes the \(n\)th iteration of the operator \(T_P\). It is shown how some classical oscillation and nonoscillation criteria for (*) can be obtained as special cases of the general results given in the paper.