Miroslav Bartusek

The limit-point/limit-circle problem had its beginnings more than 100 years ago with the publication of Hermann Weyl's classic paper in Mathematische Annalen in 1910 on linear differential equations. This concept was extended to second-order nonlinear equations in the late 1970's and later, to higher order nonlinear equations. This monograph traces the development of what is known as the strong nonlinear limit-point and limit-circle properties of solutions. In addition to bringing together all such results into one place, some new directions that the study has taken as well as some open problems for future research are indicated.

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.