Article Contents
Article Contents

# Existence of piecewise linear Lyapunov functions in arbitrary dimensions

• Lyapunov functions are an important tool to determine the basin of attraction of exponentially stable equilibria in dynamical systems. In Marinósson (2002), a method to construct Lyapunov functions was presented, using finite differences on finite elements and thus transforming the construction problem into a linear programming problem. In Hafstein (2004), it was shown that this method always succeeds in constructing a Lyapunov function, except for a small, given neighbourhood of the equilibrium.
For two-dimensional systems, this local problem was overcome by choosing a fan-like triangulation around the equilibrium. In Giesl/Hafstein (2010) the existence of a piecewise linear Lyapunov function was shown, and in Giesl/Hafstein (2012) it was shown that the above method with a fan-like triangulation always succeeds in constructing a Lyapunov function, without any local exception. However, the previous papers only considered two-dimensional systems. This paper generalises the existence of piecewise linear Lyapunov functions to arbitrary dimensions.
Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary: 37B25; Secondary: 34D20, 37C75.

 Citation:

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