Solvability of Dirichlet boundary value problems governed by non-monotone differential operators

Abstract

We prove existence results for Dirichlet boundary value problems for equations of the type \begin{align*} \left( \Phi(k(t) x'(t) ) \right)' = f(t, x(t) , x'(t) ) \qquad \text{for a.e. } t \in I:=[0,T] , \end{align*} where $\Phi : J \to \mathbb{R} $ is a generic possibly non-monotone differential operator defined in a open interval $J\subseteq \mathbb{R}$, $k:I \to \mathbb{R}$, $k$ is measurable with $k(t) >0$ for a.e. $t \in I$ and $f: \mathbb{R}^3 \to \mathbb{R}$ is a Carath\'eodory function. Under very mild assumptions, we prove the existence of solutions for suitably prescribed boundary conditions, and we also address the study of the existence of heteroclinic solutions on the half-line $[0,+\infty)$.