Three periodic solutions for \(p\)-Hamiltonian systems (Q629272)

The authors prove three theorems on the existence of \(T\)-periodic solutions to the system of \(N\) equations \(-(|u'|^{p-2}u')'+ A(t)|u|^{p-2}u= \lambda\nabla F(t,u)+\mu\nabla G(t,u)\). Here \(p>1\), \(\lambda,\mu\geq 0\) and \(A\) is a symmetric positive definite \(N\times N\) matrix with \(T\)-periodic entries. In the first result it is shown that under suitable assumptions on \(F\) there exists an interval \(\Lambda\) such that if \(\lambda\in\Lambda\), then for any \(G\) the system has at least three solutions provided \(\mu\) is small enough. The other two results assert that under different sets of hypotheses on \(F\) there is an (explicitly given) interval \(\Lambda\) such that if \(\lambda\in\Lambda\) and \(\mu=0\), then there exist at least three solutions. The proofs are carried out by verifying the assumptions in two abstract critical point theorems, respectively due to Ricceri and Averna-Bonanno.