Periodic solutions of ''superquadratic'' Hamiltonian systems (Q685781)

The author considers the classical Hamiltonian system \[ \dot p=- \partial H(p,q,t)/\partial q,\qquad \dot q= \partial H(p,q,t)/\partial p, \tag{0.1} \] where \(H: \mathbb{R}^{2n}\times \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) is \(C^ 1\), and \(t\)- periodic in \(t\). A commonly made assumption is the following: (S) There exist \(R>0\), \(\mu>2\), such that \((1/\mu)\langle(\partial H(z,t)/\partial z)\), \(z\rangle\geq H(z,t)>0\), for all \(z\in \mathbb{R}^{2n}\). Here \(\langle .,.\rangle\) denotes the usual inner product. Then it is easy to show that there exist constants \(c_ 1>0\), \(c_ 2\geq 0\), such that \(H(z,t)\geq c_ 1| z|-c_ 2\) \(\forall z\in\mathbb{R}^{2n}\), \(\forall t\in\mathbb{R}\). Hamiltonians satisfying the (S) condition are called superquadratic. A special case, when the Hamiltonian is given by \({1\over 2}| p|^ 2+ V(q,t)\), leads to a second order equation \(\ddot q+V'(q,t)=0\). A hypothesis similar to (S) has been assumed in several papers: There exist \(R>0\), \(\mu>2\), such that (2S) \((1/\mu)\langle V'(q,t),q\rangle\geq V(q,t)>0\), \(\forall q\in\mathbb{R}^ n\), \(| q| \geq R\), \(\forall t\in\mathbb{R}\). Here the author extends the existence results of P. Rabinowitz, also A. Bahri and H. Berestycki, and others, to the cases that satisfy the superquadratic conditions which simultaneously includes both (S) and (2S). The author constructs a Hamiltonian and a related functional, whose critical points coincide with \(2\pi\)-periodic solutions of (0.1). Finally an existence theorem is proved, showing that at least one \(T\)-periodic solution exists to the system (0.1). Moreover, if \(H\) is independent of \(t\), and obeys certain inequalities, then (0.1) possesses infinitely many distinct, nontrivial \(T\)-periodic solutions of (0.1). The proof uses a variant of the ``mountain pass'' technique.