On the uniqueness of solutions to a class of discontinuous dynamical systems (Q974548)

Let \(f:\mathbb{R}^{n}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}^{n}\) be a locally bounded vector function of the form \(f\left( x\right) =Ax+Bs\left( x\right) ,\) where \(A,\) \(B\) are \(n\times n\) real valued matrices and the vector function \(s:\mathbb{R}^{n}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}^{n}\) is defined by \[ s\left( x\right) =\left(\begin{matrix} \text{sign}\left( x_{1}\right) \\ \vdots\\ \text{sign}\left( x_{n}\right) \end{matrix} \right) . \] The author studies the initial value problem \[ \dot{x}=f\left( x\right) ,\qquad x\left( 0\right) =x_{0}\in\mathbb{R}^n,\quad t\in I=\left[ 0,\infty\right)\tag{2} \] presenting sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of the solution. The method uses a strengthened one-sided Lipschitz condition and the vector field approach in case the Lipschitz condition fails to hold. One of the main results in the paper states the following: if the matrix \(B\) is not positive definite, the initial value problem (2) has a unique (right) generalized solution. A number of examples arising in applications are discussed.