A theoretical justification of the method of harmonic balance for systems with discontinuities (Q802825)

The paper is concerned with the existence of periodic solutions to differential inclusions of the form (1) \(\dot z(t)-Az(t)\in F[z(t)]\), \(t\in [0,\infty)\), where \(z(t)\in {\mathbb{R}}^ m\), A is a constant \(m\times m\) matrix and F: \({\mathbb{R}}^ m\to 2^{{\mathbb{R}}^ m}\). The authors present a theoretical justification of the harmonic balance method, using fixed point theory and degree theory for differential inclusions. The central idea is to use a finite-dimensional approximation (via Fourier series) to the infinite-dimensional function space on which (1) is defined. The results are valid particularly for discontinuous systems of equations with discontinuities which can be modelled by convex-valued multifunctions. One example for a discontinuous differential equation of the second order is shown.