On the asymptotic integration of nonlinear differential equations (Q875378)

This interesting paper starts with an extensive overview of results regarding asymptotic integration of various classes of linear and nonlinear differential equations, mostly of second order, ranging from classical theorems to the most recent contributions in that field. The authors proceed with the discussion of existence of vanishing at infinity positive solutions of the elliptic differential equation \[ \Delta u+f\left( x,u\right) +g\left( \left| x\right| \right) x\cdot\nabla u=0. \] This requires the existence of a solution \(u(t)\) of the so-called comparison equation associated with the original partial differential equation that can be continued to the right and satisfies the condition \[ \max\left[ u^{\prime}(t),0\right] <\frac{u(t)}{t}\leq m<+\infty \] as \(t\rightarrow+\infty.\) This fact is established for a general nonlinear differential equation \[ u^{\prime\prime}+f\left( t,u,u^{\prime}\right) =0\tag{*} \] in Theorem 2 which also yields the existence of eventually positive asymptotically linear solutions with the property that \[ \limsup_{t\rightarrow+\infty}\left[ u\left( t\right) -tu^{\prime}\left( t\right) \right] >0. \] In Section 4, several new results on the existence of asymptotically linear solutions of equations (*) and \[ u^{\prime\prime}+f\left( t,u\right) =0 \] that extend and complement recent contributions by \textit{O. G. Mustafa} and \textit{Y. V. Rogovchenko} [Nonlinear Anal. 51, 339--368 (2002; Zbl 1017.34005); Nonlinear Stud. 13, 155--166 (2006; Zbl 1104.34038)], \textit{C. G. Philos} et al. [Nonlinear Anal. 59, 1157--1179 (2004; Zbl 1094.34032)], and \textit{C. G. Philos} and \textit{P. C. Tsamatos} [Electron. J. Differ. Equ. 79, 1--25 (2005; Zbl 1075.34044)] are presented. In Section 5, a new proof of the important theorem regarding asymptotic integration of an \(n\)-th order homogeneous linear differential equation due to \textit{I. M. Sobol'} [Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 61, 219--222 (1948; Zbl 0038.25301)] based on the Banach fixed point theorem is provided. The paper concludes with an impressive and valuable list of 90 references on the subject.