Equilibrium stability for a continuous time scale with discrete uniform gaps

Abstract

We investigate the equilibrium (trivial solution) stability, also known as Lyapunov stability, of a certain first-order linear complex constant coefficient dynamic equation on the time scale $\p_{α,β}$, which has continuous intervals of length $α>0$ followed by discrete gaps of length $β>0$. In particular, we establish results in the case of this specific time scale, for coefficient values in the complex plane, including where the exponential function alternates in sign. In our analysis, we employ the Lambert $W$ function. For increasing gap size $β$ relative to $α$, we prove that the complex constant coefficient undergoes a bifurcation in its parameter space. We establish interesting results for both the delta dynamic equation and the nabla dynamic equation. Lastly, we connect these results to those related to Hyers--Ulam stability of the same nabla equations.