The existence of periodic solutions for second-order delay differential systems (Q6174735)

The problem of existence of periodic solutions with period \(m\tau\) of the delay differential system \[ \ddot{x}(t)=-\left[\nabla v(x(t-\tau))+\cdots +\nabla v(x(t-(m-1)\tau)\right]\tag{1} \] is considered where \(x\in C^2(\mathbb R, \mathbb{R}^n), v\in C^1(\mathbb{R}^n,\mathbb{R})\) and \(x(t+m\tau)=x(t), t\in\mathbb R\). It is reducible to the problem of existence of a solution to the following boundary value problem for Hamiltonian system \[ A \ddot{z}(t)=V^\prime(z(t)),\quad z(1)=Q z(0),\: \dot{z}(1)=Q\dot{z}(0),\; t\in[0,1]\tag{2} \] where \(z=(x_1,\ldots,x_m), x_i(t)=x(t-\tau i), 1\le i\le m-1, A,Q\) are square matrices. Several sufficient conditions for the existence of solutions to the BVP (2) are derived (Theorems 1.1 and 1.2). They are partially based on prior theoretical knowledge and developments in several papers including the authors' work. The conditions are translated then to ones for the existence of periodic solutions of delay system (1) (Theorems 3.2 and 3.3).