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Picard-Lindelöf local existence and uniqueness for first-order systems
Statement
Let be open, let be continuous and locally Lipschitz in the state variable, and let . Then a unique local solution of the IVP exists on some interval around the initial time. More quantitatively, if make
if and has state-Lipschitz constant on this cylinder, and if and , then there is exactly one solution on through whose graph lies in the cylinder. Any two solutions through the same initial data agree on every common subinterval containing .
In particular, a unique local solution exists on an interval around the initial time.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The IVP in the Statement and a compact cylinder about on which is bounded by and state-Lipschitz with constant .
A contraction of a nonempty complete metric space has exactly one fixed point (A contraction of a nonempty complete metric space into itself has exactly one fixed point, the limit of the iterates from any starting point).
A curve solves the IVP if and only if it satisfies the associated Volterra integral equation (A first-order initial value problem is equivalent to its Volterra integral equation).
Continuous -valued curves on a nonempty compact interval are complete in the supremum metric (Continuous -valued curves on a nonempty compact interval form a complete supremum-metric space).
Under , the Picard operator preserves the closed curve ball (A bounded vector field makes the Picard operator preserve a sufficiently short closed curve ball).
Under , the Picard operator is a contraction (A state-Lipschitz vector field makes the Picard operator a contraction when ).
Every interval in the real line is connected (The connected subspaces of with its usual topology are exactly the order-convex subsets, the published characterisation transported by the identification of the two descriptions of "open in ").
Proof
Choose and then so the cylinder lies in , , and ; the closed curve ball is nonempty and complete by [L3], is invariant by [L4], and its Picard operator is a contraction by [L5], so [L1] gives exactly one fixed point.
By [L2] the fixed point is a solution. Any other solution cannot leave the state ball before time , by the same first-exit estimate as [L4], so it is the same fixed point there. For two solutions on a larger common interval, their agreement set is nonempty and closed, and local repetition of this argument makes it open; the common interval is connected by [L6], so they agree throughout it.
Depends on
- First-order systems, initial value problems, and solutions on intervals
- Local Lipschitz continuity in the state variable, locally uniform in time and parameters
- A first-order initial value problem is equivalent to its Volterra integral equation
- Continuous $\mathbb{R}^n$-valued curves on a nonempty compact interval form a complete supremum-metric space
- A bounded vector field makes the Picard operator preserve a sufficiently short closed curve ball
- A state-Lipschitz vector field makes the Picard operator a contraction when $Lh<1$
- A contraction of a nonempty complete metric space into itself has exactly one fixed point, the limit of the iterates from any starting point
- The connected subspaces of $\mathbb{R}$ with its usual topology are exactly the order-convex subsets, the published characterisation transported by the identification of the two descriptions of "open in $\mathbb{R}$"
Used by
- Nearby initial values share one Picard–Lindelöf time interval and one state cylinder Corollary
- Picard iteration for y'=y, y(0)=1, recovers the exponential series Example
- A solution whose graph approaches a compact interior region at a finite endpoint extends past that endpoint Lemma
- Picard iteration converges with geometric short-time and factorial cylinder error bounds Proposition
- Continuous dependence of ODE solutions on initial data and parameters Theorem
- Every Picard–Lindelöf initial value problem has one maximal solution on an open interval Theorem
Dependency tree · two levels
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Sources
- Gerald Teschl, Ordinary Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, Ch. 2 (standard reference, not scraped)
- Jiri Lebl, Basic Analysis I, Section 6.3 (standard reference, not scraped)