Author	Bartuลกek, Miroslav. author
Title	The Nonlinear Limit-Point/Limit-Circle Problem [electronic resource] / by Miroslav Bartuลกek, Zuzana Doลกlรก, John R. Graef
Imprint	Boston, MA : Birkhรคuser Boston : Imprint: Birkhรคuser, 2004
Connect to	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-8176-8218-7
Descript	IX, 162 p. online resource

First posed by Hermann Weyl in 1910, the limit-point/limit-circle problem has inspired, over the last century, several new developments in the asymptotic analysis of nonlinear differential equations. This self-contained monograph traces the evolution of this problem from its inception to its modern-day extensions to the study of deficiency indices and analogous properties for nonlinear equations. The book opens with a discussion of the problem in the linear case, as Weyl originally stated it, and then proceeds to a generalization for nonlinear higher-order equations. En route, the authors distill the classical theorems for second and higher-order linear equations, and carefully map the progression to nonlinear limit-point results. The relationship between the limit-point/limit-circle properties and the boundedness, oscillation, and convergence of solutions is explored, and in the final chapter, the connection between limit-point/limit-circle problems and spectral theory is examined in detail. With over 120 references, many open problems, and illustrative examples, this work will be valuable to graduate students and researchers in differential equations, functional analysis, operator theory, and related fields

1 Origins of the Limit-Point/Limit-Circle Problem -- 1.1 The Weyl Alternative -- 1.2 The Deficiency Index Problem -- 1.3 Second Order Linear Equations -- 2 Basic Definitions -- 2.1 Description of the Limit-Point/Limit-Circle Problem -- 2.2 Continuable and Singular Solutions -- 2.3 Extension of the LP/LC Properties to Singular Solutions -- 3 Second Order Nonlinear Equations -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The Superlinear Equation -- 3.3 The Sublinear Equation -- 3.4 Equations with r(t) ? 0 -- 4 Some Early Limit-Point and Limit-Circle Results -- 4.1 Wintnerโ{128}{153}s Result -- 4.2 Early Results on Higher Order Linear Equations -- 4.3 Nonlinear Limit-Point Results for Second Order Equations -- 4.4 Nonlinear Limit-Point Results for Higher Order Equations -- 4.5 Some New Generalizations of the Early Results -- 5 Relationship to Other Asymptotic Properties -- 5.1 Second Order Linear Equations -- 5.2 Second Order Nonlinear Equations -- 6 Third Order Differential Equations -- 6.1 Equations with Quasiderivatives -- 6.2 Linear Equations -- 6.3 Nonlinear Three-Term Equations -- 7 Fourth Order Differential Equations -- 7.1 Equations with Quasiderivatives -- 7.2 Sublinear Equations in Self-Adjoint Form -- 7.3 Two-Term Equations -- 7.4 Linear Equations -- 8 Nonlinear Differential Equations of n-th Order -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Basic Lemmas -- 8.3 Limit-Point Results -- 9 Relationship to Spectral Theory -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Self-Adjoint Linear Fourth Order Equations -- 9.3 Two-Term Even Order Linear Equations -- Author Index