On the existence of a variational principle for an operator equation with second derivative with respect to ``time'' (Q881060)

This article deals with the two-point boundary value problem for the following quasilinear differential equation of the second order \[ N(u) \equiv (P_2(t)u')' + P_1(t)u' + Q(t,u) = 0, \quad t_0 \leq t \leq t_1, \] where \(P_1(t): U_1 \to V_1\), \(P_2(t): U_1 \to V_1\) are linear, \(Q: [t_0,t_1] \times U \to V\) is a nonlinear (and Gâteaux differentiable) operator, \(U_1, V_1\) are normed linear spaces over \({\mathbb R}\), \(U = C^2([t_0,t_1];U_1)\), \(V = C^2([t_0,t_1];V_1)\). The authors say that this equation admits a direct variational formulation on the set \[ D(N) = \{u \in C^2([t_0,t_1],U_1), \;u(t_0) = \psi_0, \;u(t_1) = \psi_1\} \] with respect to a bilinear form \(\Phi: V \times U \to {\mathbb R}\) if there exists a functional \(F: D(N) \to {\mathbb R}\) such that \(\delta F[u,h] = \Phi(N(u),h)\), for all \(u \in D(N)\) and \(\forall h \in D(N_u')\). The main results are as follows. The equation under consideration admits a direct variational formulation on the set \(D(N)\) with respect to the a bilinear form \(\Phi\) if and only if \(P_2 - P_2^* = 0\), \(\frac{\partial P_2}{\partial t} - \frac{\partial P_2^*}{\partial t} + P_1^* + P_1 = 0\), and \(\frac{\partial P_1^*}{\partial t} + Q_u' - {Q_u'}^* = 0\). These conditions are fillfulled if and only if the original equation is of the form \[ N(u) \equiv [(- R_2 - R_2^*)u'] + (R_1^* - R_1)u' + \biggl(\text{ grad}_\Phi B[u] - \frac{\partial R_1}{\partial t}u\biggr) = 0, \quad u \in D(N), \] with \(R_1\), \(R_2\), \(B\) that are defined by some explicit formulas. As examples, the Volterra equation and the Navier--Stokes system are considered.