Periodic solutions for: ẋ(t) = λf(x(t),x(t – 1))

We present a new result on the existence of periodic solutions for the equation:

for all positive parameters λ sufficiently large. Our fundamental assumption is the following monotonicity property: if ø ≧ ψ (ø and ψ are data) then x(ø) ≧ x(ψ). The proof consists in applying the global Hopf bifurcation theorem. The main steps are: (i) a classical estimation of the periods; (ii) an a priori estimate for the solutions along a connected branch; (iii) a transformation acting on periodic solutions.