Conley index condition for asymptotic stability (Q548630)

The authors consider nonlinear continuous-time dynamical systems of the form \[ \dot x(t)=f(x(t)),\quad x\in \mathcal D,\quad t\in \mathbb R_{\geq0},\tag{1} \] where \(\mathcal D\) is an open subset of \(\mathbb R^n\) and \(f\) a \(\mathcal C^1\)-vector field. They use Conley index theory to develop necessary conditions for the stability of an equilibrium and a periodic solution of (1). The Conley index is a topological generalization of Morse theory which has been developed to analyze dynamical systems using topological methods. In particular, the Conley index of an invariant set with respect to a dynamical system is defined as the relative homology of an index pair for the invariant set. The Conley index can then be used to examine the structure of an invariant set as well as the system dynamics within the invariant set, including system stability properties. Efficient numerical algorithms using homology theory have been developed in the literature to compute the Conley index and can be used to deduce the stability properties of nonlinear dynamical systems.