A general Lipschitz uniqueness criterion for scalar ordinary differential equations

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

The classical Lipschitz-type criteria guarantee unique solvability of the scalar initial value problem ẋ = f (t, x), x(t0) = x0, by putting restrictions on |f (t, x) - f (t, y)| in dependence of |x - y|. Geometrically it means that the field differences are estimated in the direction of the x-axis. In 1989, Stettner and the second author could establish a generalized Lipschitz condition in both arguments by showing that the field differences can be measured in a suitably chosen direction v = (dt, dx), provided that it does not coincide with the directional vector (1, f (t0, x0)). Considering the vector v depending on t, a new general uniqueness result is derived and a short proof based on the implicit function theorem is developed. The advantage of the new criterion is shown by an example. A comparison with known results is given as well.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-6
Number of pages6
JournalElectronic Journal of Qualitative Theory of Differential Equations
Volume2014
Issue number34
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0003-0967-6747/work/213148703

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Fundamental theory of ordinary differential equations, Initial value problems, Lipschitz type conditions, Uniqueness