Higher-order approximate periodic solutions of a nonlinear oscillator with discontinuity by variational approach.
Higher-order differential equations represented by connections on prolongations of a fibered manifold.
The main goal of the present work is a generalization of the ideas, constructions and results from the first and second-order situation, studied in [63], [64] to that of an arbitrary finite-order one. Moreover, the investigation extends the ideas of [65] from the one-dimensional base X corresponding to O.D.E.
Homogeneous systems of higher-order ordinary differential equations
The concept of homogeneity, which picks out sprays from the general run of systems of second-order ordinary differential equations in the geometrical theory of such equations, is generalized so as to apply to equations of higher order. Certain properties of the geometric concomitants of a spray are shown to continue to hold for higher-order systems. Third-order equations play a special role, because a strong form of homogeneity may apply to them. The key example of a single third-order equation...