Finding periodic solutions of ordinary differential equations via homotopy method (Q5906575)

The authors are concerned with \(x' = f(t,x)\), where \(f:R^ n \to R^ n\) is continuous, continuously differentiable in \(x\) and \(T\)-periodic in \(t\). The paper starts with the Sard theorem and the parameterized Sard theorem. The main results are expressed by Theorem 4. Starting point is the equation \(x' = f(t,x, \lambda)\), where \(f:R \times R^ n \times [0,1] \to R^ n\) is continuous, twice differentiable with respect to \((x, \lambda)\) and \(T\)-periodic in \(t\). A shooting map and a homotopy map is defined for this equation. This theorem gives necessary conditions of the ``solvability of this last equation with \(\lambda = 1\) to \(T\)- periodic solutions''. This means: the equation has \(T\)-periodic solutions and some of them can be found by following some path starting at almost all points near the \(T\)-periodic solutions of the above equation with \(\lambda = 0\). Theorems 5,6,7 are special versions of Theorem 4. The existence conclusions of Theorems 6 and 7 are the same as that of Mawhin and Krasnoselskij, but with fewer assumptions. -- Key of the numerical calculation of the periodic solution is: how to compute a path of solution for \((x_ 0 (\lambda), \lambda)\), \(\lambda \in [0,1]\). Combining the degree theory and the classical continuation method a predictor-corrector method is given. In the first example \(x' = - x^ 3 + \sin 2 \pi t\), \(x(0) = x(1)\) is examined and five \((x_ 0 (\lambda), \lambda)\) homotopy paths are drawn. Calculations can be found with the right sides \(-x^ 5 + \sin 2 \pi t\) and \(-x^ 3 + \cos 2m \pi t\), too. The second example is: \(x'' + {1 \over 25} x' - {1 \over 5} x + {8 \over 15} x^ 3 - {2 \over 5} \cos (2 \pi t) = 0\), \(x(0) = x(1)\), \(x'(0) = x'(1)\); the homotopy path is determined and the periodic solutions are drawn on the \((x,x')\) plane.