Periodic solutions to a class of distributed delay differential equations via variational methods

Abstract In this article, we study the existence of periodic solutions to a class of distributed delay differential equations. We transform the search for periodic solutions with the special symmetry of a delay differential equation to the problem of finding periodic solutions of an associated Hamiltonian system. Using the critical point theory and the pseudo-index theory, we obtain some sufficient conditions for the multiplicity of periodic solutions. This is the first time that critical point theory has been used to study the existence of periodic solutions to distributed delay differential equations.