A global bifurcation index for set-valued perturbations of Fredholm operators (Q988159)

Let \(E\) and \(F\) be Banach spaces. This paper is devoted to the study of the solvability and the behavior of solutions to parametrized equations and inclusions of the form \[ Lx\in \varphi (\lambda,x), \] where \(\lambda\) belongs to a parameter space \(\Lambda,\) \(x\in U\subset E,\) \(L:E\to F\) is a linear Fredholm operator of non-negative index and \(\varphi\) is a multivalued map defined on \(\Lambda\times U\) with nonempty compact and, in general, non-convex values in \(F\). The authors introduce a homotopy invariant detecting bifurcation points for such problems. Moreover, some applications to existence problems for differential inclusions are considered.