Robustness via Lyapunov functions

For nonautonomous linear equations x^′=A(t)x, we give a complete characterization of nonuniform exponential dichotomies in terms of strict quadratic Lyapunov functions. Nonuniform exponential dichotomies include as a very special case uniform exponential dichotomies. In particular, we construct explicitly strict Lyapunov functions for each exponential dichotomy. As a nontrivial application, we establish in a simple and direct manner the robustness of nonuniform exponential dichotomies under sufficiently small linear perturbations. This represents a considerable simplification of former work.     

Stability of dichotomies in difference equations with infinite delay

For delay difference equations with infinite delay we consider the notion of nonuniform exponential dichotomy. This includes the notion of uniform exponential dichotomy as a very special case. Our main aim is to establish a stable manifold theorem under sufficiently small nonlinear perturbations. We also establish the robustness of nonuniform exponential dichotomies under sufficiently small linear perturbations. Finally, we characterize the nonuniform exponential dichotomies in terms of strict Lyapunov sequences. In particular, we construct explicitly a strict Lyapunov sequence for each exponential dichotomy.     

Nonuniform behavior and robustness

We establish the robustness of linear cocycles in Banach spaces admitting a nonuniform exponential dichotomy. We first obtain robustness results for positive and negative time, by establishing exponential behavior along certain subspaces, and showing that the associated sequences of projections have bounded exponential growth. We then establish a robustness result in Z by constructing explicitly appropriate projections on the stable and unstable subspaces. We emphasize that in general these projections may be different from those obtained separately from the robustness for positive and negative time. We also consider the case of strong nonuniform exponential dichotomies.     

Robustness of general dichotomies

For a linear equation v^′=A(t)v we consider general dichotomies that may exhibit stable and unstable behaviors with respect to arbitrary asymptotic rates ecρ(t) for some function ρ(t). This includes as a special case the usual exponential behavior when ρ(t)=t. We also consider the general case of nonuniform exponential dichotomies. We establish the robustness of the exponential dichotomies in Banach spaces, in the sense that the existence of an exponential dichotomy for a given linear equation persists under sufficiently small linear perturbations. We also establish the continuous dependence with the perturbation of the constants in the notion of dichotomy.     

Smooth robustness of parameterized perturbations of exponential dichotomies

We establish the robustness of nonuniform exponential dichotomies in Banach spaces, under sufficiently small C¹-parameterized perturbations. Moreover, we show that the stable and unstable subspaces of the exponential dichotomies obtained from the perturbation are also of class C¹ on the parameter, thus yielding an optimal smoothness.     

Lyapunov regularity of impulsive differential equations

For linear impulsive differential equations, we give a simple criterion for the existence of a nonuniform exponential dichotomy, which includes uniform exponential dichotomies as a very special case. For this we introduce the notion of Lyapunov regularity for a linear impulsive differential equation, in terms of the so-called regularity coefficient. The theory is then used to show that if the Lyapunov exponents are nonzero, then there is a nonuniform exponential behavior, which can be expressed in terms of the Lyapunov exponents of the differential equation and of the regularity coefficient. We also consider the particular case of nonuniform exponential contractions when there are only negative Lyapunov exponents. Having this relation in mind, it is also of interest to provide alternative characterizations of Lyapunov regularity, and particularly to obtain sharp lower and upper bound for the regularity coefficient. In particular, we obtain bounds expressed in terms of the matrices defining the impulsive linear system, and we obtain characterizations in terms of the exponential growth rate of volumes. In addition we establish the persistence of the stability of a linear impulsive differential equation under sufficiently small nonlinear perturbations.     

Stability in delay difference equations with nonuniform exponential behavior

We study the stability under perturbations for delay difference equations in Banach spaces. Namely, we establish the (nonuniform) stability of linear nonuniform exponential contractions under sufficiently small perturbations. We also obtain a stable manifold theorem for perturbations of linear delay difference equations admitting a nonuniform exponential dichotomy, and show that the stable manifolds are Lipschitz in the perturbation.     

Lyapunov Functions for General Nonuniform Dichotomies

For nonautonomous linear equations x′ = A(t)x, we give a complete characterization of the existence of exponential behavior in terms of Lyapunov functions. In particular, we obtain an inverse theorem giving explicitly Lyapunov functions for each exponential dichotomy. The main novelty of our work is that we consider a very general type of nonuniform exponential dichotomy. This includes for example uniform exponential dichotomies, nonuniform exponential dichotomies and polynomial dichotomies. We also consider the case of different growth rates for the uniform and the nonuniform parts of the dichotomy. As an application of our work, we establish in a very direct manner the robustness of nonuniform exponential dichotomies under sufficiently small linear perturbations.     

Robustness for impulsive equations

For nonautonomous linear impulsive differential equations in Banach spaces, we establish the robustness of exponential contractions and exponential dichotomies, in the sense that the exponential behavior persists under sufficiently small linear perturbations. We also consider the more general case of nonuniform exponential behavior.     

Quadratic Lyapunov functions and nonuniform exponential dichotomies

For nonautonomous linear equations x^′=A(t)x, we show how to characterize completely nonuniform exponential dichotomies using quadratic Lyapunov functions. The characterization can be expressed in terms of inequalities between matrices. In particular, we obtain converse theorems, by constructing explicitly quadratic Lyapunov functions for each nonuniform exponential dichotomy. We note that the nonuniform exponential dichotomies include as a very special case (uniform) exponential dichotomies. In particular, we recover in a very simple manner a complete characterization of uniform exponential dichotomies in terms of quadratic Lyapunov functions. We emphasize that our approach is new even in the uniform case.Furthermore, we show that the instability of a nonuniform exponential dichotomy persists under sufficiently small perturbations. The proof uses quadratic Lyapunov functions, and in particular avoids the use of invariant unstable manifolds which, to the best of our knowledge, are not known to exist in this general setting.     

Nonlinear perturbations of nonuniform exponential dichotomy on measure chains

This paper focuses on nonlinear perturbations of flows in Banach spaces, corresponding to a nonautonomous dynamical system on measure chains admitting a nonuniform exponential dichotomy. We first define the nonuniform exponential dichotomy of linear nonuniformly hyperbolic systems on measure chains, then establish a new version of the Grobman-Hartman theorem for nonuniformly hyperbolic dynamics on measure chains with the help of nonuniform exponential dichotomies. Moreover, we also construct stable invariant manifolds for sufficiently small nonlinear perturbations of a nonuniform exponential dichotomy. In particular, it is shown that the stable invariant manifolds are Lipschitz in the initial values provided that the nonlinear perturbation is a sufficiently small Lipschitz perturbation.     

Stable manifolds for nonautonomous equations without exponential dichotomy

We consider nonautonomous ordinary differential equations v^′=A(t)v in Banach spaces and, under fairly general assumptions, we show that for any sufficiently small perturbation f there exists a stable invariant manifold for the perturbed equation v^′=A(t)v+f(t,v), which corresponds to the set of negative Lyapunov exponents of the original linear equation. The main assumption is the existence of a nonuniform exponential dichotomy with a small nonuniformity, i.e., a small deviation from the classical notion of (uniform) exponential dichotomy. In fact, we showed that essentially any linear equation v^′=A(t)v admits a nonuniform exponential dichotomy and thus, the above assumption only concerns the smallness of the nonuniformity of the dichotomy. This smallness is a rather common phenomenon at least from the point of view of ergodic theory: almost all linear variational equations obtained from a measure-preserving flow admit a nonuniform exponential dichotomy with arbitrarily small nonuniformity. We emphasize that we do not need to assume the existence of a uniform exponential dichotomy and that we never require the nonuniformity to be arbitrarily small, only sufficiently small. Our approach is related to the notion of Lyapunov regularity, which goes back to Lyapunov himself although it is apparently somewhat forgotten today in the theory of differential equations.     

Robust nonuniform dichotomies and parameter dependence

We establish the robustness of linear cocycles with an exponential dichotomy, under sufficiently small Lipschitz perturbations, in the sense that the existence of an exponential dichotomy for a given cocycle persists under these perturbations. We consider cocycles in Banach spaces, as well as the general case of nonuniform exponential dichotomies, and also the general case of an exponential behavior ecρ(n), given by an arbitrary sequence ρ(n) including the usual exponential behavior ρ(n)=n as a very special case. Moreover, we show that the projections of the exponential dichotomies obtained from the perturbation vary continuously with the parameter, and in fact that they are locally Lipschitz on finite-dimensional parameters.     

Robustness of nonuniform exponential trichotomies in Banach spaces

We establish the robustness under sufficiently small linear perturbations of nonuniform exponential trichotomies defined by linear equations x^′=A(t)x in Banach spaces. We also establish the continuous dependence on the perturbation of the constants in the notion of trichotomy. We consider both trichotomies in semi-infinite intervals and trichotomies in R.     

Optimal regularity of robustness for parameterized perturbations

For exponential dichotomies defined by nonautonomous linear equations, we show that sufficiently small C¹-parameterized perturbations originate a family of exponential dichotomies of class C¹ in the parameter. We consider the general case of nonuniform exponential dichotomies, and also the general case of arbitrary growth rates of the form eλρ(t) where ρ is an arbitrary function. This includes the usual exponential behavior as a very special case when ρ(t)=t.     

Nonuniform Dichotomies via Lyapunov Functions

For a nonautonomous linear equation x′ =  A(t)x we show how to characterize a nonuniform exponential dichotomy using strict Lyapunov functions. In particular, the stable and unstable subspaces are obtained from invariant families of cones determined by each Lyapunov function. We also obtain converse theorems, constructing explicitly a family of strict Lyapunov functions for each nonuniform exponential dichotomy. We emphasize that nonuniform exponential dichotomies include as a very particular case (uniform) exponential dichotomies.     

Lyapunov sequences for exponential dichotomies

For a linear nonautonomous dynamics with discrete time, we study the relation between nonuniform exponential dichotomies and strict Lyapunov sequences. Given such a sequence, we obtain the stable and unstable subspaces from the intersection of the images and preimages of the cones defined by each element of the sequence. The main difficulty is to extract some information about the angles between the stable and unstable subspaces (or some appropriate notion in the case of Banach spaces) from the Lyapunov sequence. In particular, for a large class of nonuniform exponential dichotomies we give a complete characterization in terms of strict quadratic Lyapunov sequences, that is, strict Lyapunov sequences defined by quadratic forms. We also construct explicitly families of strict Lyapunov sequences for each nonuniform exponential dichotomy, in terms of Lyapunov norms.     

Smooth stable invariant manifolds and arbitrary growth rates

For nonautonomous linear equations v^′=A(t)v with a generalized exponential dichotomy, we show that there is a smooth stable invariant manifold for the perturbed equation v^′=A(t)v+f(t,v) provided that f is sufficiently small. The generalized exponential dichotomies may exhibit stable and unstable behaviors with respect to arbitrary growth rates for some function ρ(t). We consider the general case of nonuniform exponential dichotomies, and the result is obtained in Banach spaces. Moreover, we show that for an equivariant system, the dynamics on the stable manifold in a certain class of graphs is also equivariant. We emphasize that this result cannot be obtained by averaging over the symmetry.     

Conjugacies for linear and nonlinear perturbations of nonuniform behavior

We construct topological conjugacies between linear and nonlinear evolution operators that admit either a nonuniform exponential contraction or a nonuniform exponential dichotomy. We consider evolution operators defined by nonautonomous differential equations x^′=A(t)x+f(t,x) in a Banach space. The conjugacies are obtained by first considering sufficiently small linear and nonlinear perturbations of linear equations x^′=A(t)x. In the case of linear perturbations, we construct in a more or less explicit manner topological conjugacies between the two linear flows. In the case of nonlinear perturbations, we obtain a version of the Grobman-Hartman theorem for nonuniformly hyperbolic dynamics. Furthermore, all the conjugacies that we construct are locally Hölder continuous provided that the vectors fields are of class C¹. As a byproduct of our approach, we give conditions for the robustness of strong nonuniform exponential behavior, in the sense that under sufficiently small perturbations the structure determined by the stable and unstable bundles persists up to small variations. We also show that the constants determining the nonuniform exponential contraction or nonuniform exponential dichotomy vary continuously with the perturbation. All the results are obtained in Banach spaces.     

Polynomial contractions and Lyapunov regularity

The purpose of this note is twofold: to introduce the notion of polynomial contraction for a linear nonautonomous dynamics with discrete time, and to show that it persists under sufficiently small linear and nonlinear perturbations. The notion of polynomial contraction mimics the notion of exponential contraction, but with the exponential decay replaced by a polynomial decay. We show that this behavior is exhibited by a large class of dynamics, by giving necessary conditions in terms of “polynomial” Lyapunov exponents. Finally, we establish the persistence of the asymptotic stability of a polynomial contraction under sufficiently small linear and nonlinear perturbations. We also consider the case of nonuniform polynomial contractions, for which the Lyapunov stability is not uniform.