Oscillation criteria for second order neutral differential equations (Q757715)

In the first part of this paper the authors consider the equation \[ (1)\quad (a(t)[x(t)+p(t)x[t-\tau)]]')'+q(t)f(x[t-\sigma])=0. \] Here a: [t\({}_ 0,\infty)\to (0,\infty)\), p,q: [t\({}_ 0,\infty)\to [0,\infty)\) and f: \(R\to R\) are continuous functions, \(\sigma\) and \(\tau\) are nonnegative constants and q(t) does not vanish identically on any ray \([t^*,\infty)\) for some \(t^*\geq t_ 0\geq 0\). Four theorems are proved ensuring that this equation is oscillatory (i.e. all solutions have arbitrarily large zeros). We state only one result (Theorem 2). Assume that \(\int (1/a(s))ds=\infty\), \(0\leq p(t)<1\) for \(t\geq t_ 0\), \(xf(x)>0\) and \(f'(x)\geq 0\) for \(x\neq 0\), and -f(-xy)\(\geq f(xy)\geq Kf(x)f(y)\) for \(xy>0\) and K a positive constant. Furthermore assume \(\int_{0+}(1/f(u))du<\infty\) and \(\int_{0-}(1/f(u))du<\infty\) and that \(\int q(s)f(R(s))f(1-p[s-\sigma])ds=\infty\), where \(R(t)=\int^{t- \sigma}_{t_ 0}(1/a(s))ds\), \(t\geq t_ 0+\sigma\). Then (1) is oscillatory. In the second part of the paper the forced equation, corresponding to (1), is considered; i.e. the right-hand side of (1) is now a function of t. A result is obtained ensuring that this forced equation is oscillatory. All results are illustrated by nice examples and the results of this paper are carefully compared with related results. There are also references given to applications of these equations to electric networks containing lossless transmission lines.