Existence of periodic solutions for fourth-order difference equations (Q814069)

Let \(f : \mathbb{Z}\times \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) be a continuous function in the second variable and let \(T>0\) be a positive integer such that \(f(n+T, z) = f(n, z)\), for all \((n, z) \in \mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{R}\). Let \((r_n)\) be a sequence of strictly positive real numbers such that \(r_{n+T} = r_n\), for all \(n \in \mathbb{Z}\). The authors consider the fourth-order difference equation \[ \Delta^2(r_{n-2} \Delta^2 x_{n-2}) + f(n, x_n) = 0, \quad n \in \mathbb{Z} \tag{1} \] where \(\Delta\) denotes the forward difference operator \(\Delta (x_n) = x_{n+1}-x_n\). By using a linking theorem the authors deduce new criteria concerning the existence and multiplicity of periodic solutions of the fourth-order difference equation (1).