Some remarks on differential equations of quadratic type

In this paper we study differential equations of the formx(t) + x(t)=f(x(t)), x(0)=x ₀ C HereC is a closed, bounded convex subset of a Banach spaceX,f(C) C, and it is often assumed thatf(x) is a quadratic map. We study the differential equation by using the general theory of nonexpansive maps and nonexpansive, non-linear semigroups, and we obtain sharp results in a number of cases of interest. We give a formula for the Lipschitz constant off: C C, and we derive a precise explicit formula for the Lipschitz constant whenf is quadratic,C is the unit simplex inR ⁿ, and thel ₁ norm is used. We give a new proof of a theorem about nonexpansive semigroups; and we show that if the Lipschitz constant off: CC is less than or equal to one, then lim_tf(x(t))–x(t)=0 and, if {x(t):t 0} is precompact, then lim_tx(t) exists. Iff¦C=L¦C, whereL is a bounded linear operator, we apply the nonlinear theory to prove that (under mild further conditions on C) lim_t f(x(t))–x(t)=0 and that lim_t x(t) exists if {x(t):t 0} is precompact. However, forn 3 we give examples of quadratic mapsf of the unit simplex ofR ⁿ into itself such that lim_t x(t) fails to exist for mostx ₀ C andx(t) may be periodic. Our theorems answer several questions recently raised by J. Herod in connection with so-called model Boltzmann equations.