Lyapunov functions for second-order differential inclusions: A viability approach (Q5952270)

The authors study the existence of Lyapunov functions for second-order differential inclusions of the form \[ x^{\prime \prime}(t) \in F(t,x(t),x'(t)) \] subject to the initial conditions \(x(0) =x_{0}\), \(x'(0) =u_{0}\). One considers also the scalar differential equation \(\beta ^{\prime \prime}(t) =-g(t,\beta (t) ,\beta '(t))\), where \(g:[0,\infty)\times \mathbb{R}^{2}\to \mathbb{R}\) is a continuous function with linear growth. The goal is to find functions \( V:X\to \mathbb{R}\) (\(X\) being a finite-dimensional vector space) such that \[ V(x(t)) \leq \beta (t), \] under some compatibility conditions on \(\beta ,~V,~x_{0},~u_{0}.\) The main results are devoted to a necessary condition, a sufficient condition for the local existence of Lyapunov functions and some conditions which ensure the existence of Lyapunov functions in a global sense. The method used is specific for the viability theory. An application to control systems is given. The authors use the notion of second-order epiderivative of a function. Some of its properties are analyzed.