A General Method for Computer-Assisted Proofs of Periodic Solutions in Delay Differential Problems

Abstract

In this paper we develop a general computer-assisted proof method for periodic solutions to delay differential equations. The class of problems considered includes systems of delay differential equations with an arbitrary number of (forward and backward) delays. When the nonlinearities include nonpolynomial terms we introduce auxiliary variables to first rewrite the problem into an equivalent polynomial one. We then apply a flexible fixed point technique in a space of geometrically decaying Fourier coefficients. We showcase the efficacy of this method by proving periodic solutions in the well-known Mackey–Glass delay differential equation for the classical parameter values.