Explicit abstract neutral differential equations with state-dependent delay: existence, uniqueness and local well-posedness (Q6155299)

The authors consider a class of neutral integro-differential equations with deviating time argument, which is state-dependent and can also be advanced. The equation takes the general form \[ u'(t) = Au(t) + F\left(t, u(t), \int_0^t K(t, \tau) u'(\sigma(\tau, u'(\tau)) \, d\tau\right), \tag{\(*\)} \] so that (at least at first sight) only \(u'\) (but not \(u\)) appears with deviating argument. Here \(u\) takes values in a Banach space \(X\) that contains the domain of the linear operator \(A\), and the values of \(u\) are prescribed on an interval \( [-p, 0]\). The main concern is existence and uniqueness of solutions to initial value problems, and a number of results of Peano type (using Schauder's fixed point theorem) as well as of Picard-Lindelöf type (using the Banach contraction theorem) are given. In both cases, the structure of the equation requires to consider spaces of \(C^1\) functions with values in \(X\). Main requisites of the proofs are: Regularity results from the well-known book by Lunardi, that \(A\) generates analytic semigroup on \(X\), with associated fractional power spaces \(X_{\beta} = D((-A)^{\beta}) \, (\beta \in (0,1))\), Lipschitz-type conditions on the kernel \(K\), boundedness assumptions on integrals of \(||K||\) or the Lipschitz constant of \(K\), Lipschitz or smoothness assumptions on the nonlinearity \(F\) and the time shift function \( \sigma\), compactness of the generated semigroup (for the Peano type existence results), the compatibility condition \(\varphi'(0) = A\varphi(0) + F(0, \varphi(0), 0) \) on the initial state \( \varphi\). The existence/uniqueness results (Theorems 3.1, 3.2, Propositions 3.4--3.13, Corollaries 3.1--3.10) follow the pattern `Assume (a list of conditions). Then there exists a (unique) (strict/mild) solution of \((*)\) on \dots.' Assumption of bounds global in time for some integral quantities involving \(K\) and the semigroup allow to obtain also the solution on all of \([-p, \infty)\) (Corollary 3.8). Following the route known from ODEs, unique solutions on a maximal possible existence interval \([-p, b)\) where \(b \in (0, \infty] \) are constructed. It is shown that \(u'\) must be unbounded on this interval in case the right boundary \(b\) is less than the theoretically possible maximal value. The cases \(\sigma(0,\varphi'(0)) > 0 \) (advanced argument) and the `border' case \(\sigma(0,\varphi'(0)) = 0 \) are considered separately, and also here the methods give local existence and uniqueness results. The examples from the final section include equations with the Dirichlet-Laplace operator and \(w(t, \cdot)\) defined on a domain \(\Omega \) in \(\mathbb{R}^N\), like versions of \[ \begin{aligned} w'(t,x) & = \Delta w(t,x) + \eta(t) w(t,x) \left [ 1 - \int_0^t \rho (t,s)) w'(\sigma(s, w'(s)), x) \, ds \right],\quad \text{ or } \\ w'(t,x) & = \Delta w(t,x) + f\left( t, \int_0^t \rho (t,s)) w'(\sigma(s, w'(s)), x) \, ds \right). \end{aligned} \]