1 Introduction

In 1955, Darbo [1] proved the fixed point property for α-set contraction (i.e., α(S(A))kα(A) with k]0,1[) on a closed, bounded and convex subset of Banach spaces. Since then many interesting works have appeared. For example, in 1967, Sadovski [2] proved the fixed point property for condensing functions (i.e., α(S(A))<α(A) with α(A)0) on closed, bounded and convex subset of Banach spaces. It should be noted that any α-set contraction is a condensing function, but the converse is not true (see [[3], p.160]). In 2007, we have proved in [4] the existence of a common fixed point for commuting mappings satisfying

(1)
(2)

where α is the measure of noncompactness on a closed, bounded and convex subset Ω of a locally convex space X, and T i and S are continuous functions from Ω to Ω with T i and, in addition, are affine or linear. Furthermore, if for every iI, the T i in (1) and (2) are equal to the identity function, then we obtain in particular Darbo’s (see [1]) as well as Sadovski’s fixed point theorems (see [2]), which are used to study the existence of solutions of one equation.

The aim of this paper is to prove the existence of a common fixed point of the operators T and S satisfying

(3)
(4)

where T is affine, S and T are continuous functions, and T commutes with S. As application, we study the existence of common solutions of the following equations:

(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

under appropriate assumptions on functions f, T 1 , and T 2 .

2 Preliminaries

We begin by recalling some needed definitions and results. Let (X,) be a Banach space and denote by ℬ the family of all bounded subsets of X.

Definition 2.1 The function α:B R + defined, for every BB, by

α(B)=inf { d > 0 B  is the finite union of subsets  B i  with diameter  δ ( B i ) d } ,

is called the measure of noncompactness in X.

The measure of noncompactness α satisfies the following properties.

Proposition 2.2 ([1, 4, 5])

Let A,BB. Then

  1. (1)

    For AB, we have α(A)α(B).

  2. (2)

    For any λR, we have α(λA)=|λ|α(A).

  3. (3)

    α(A+B)α(A)+α(B).

  4. (4)

    α( A ¯ )=α(A).

  5. (5)

    α(A)=0 if and only if A ¯ is compact.

  6. (6)

    α(AB)max(α(A),α(B)).

  7. (7)

    α(A)=α(co(A)), where co(A) is the convex hull of A in X.

Definition 2.3 A mapping T on a convex set ℳ is affine if it satisfies the identity

T ( k x + ( 1 k ) y ) =kT(x)+(1k)T(y),

whenever 0<k<1, x,yM.

Theorem 2.4 (see [4])

Let X be a Hausdorff complete and locally convex space, whose topology is defined by a family of semi-norms P. Let Ω be a convex closed bounded subset of X, I be a set of index, and { T i } i I and S be two continuous functions from Ω into Ω such that:

  1. (a)

    For any iI, T i commutes with S.

  2. (b)

    For any AΩ and iI, we have T i ( co ¯ (A)) co ¯ ( T i (A)), where co(A) is the convex hull of A in Ω.

  3. (c)

    There exists 0<k<1 such that for any AΩ

    α ( S ( A ) ) (p)k sup i I α ( T i ( A ) ) (p),pP.

Then we have:

  1. (1)

    The set {xΩ:S(x)=x} is nonempty and compact.

  2. (2)

    For any iI, T i has a fixed point and {xΩ: T i (x)=x} is a closed set and invariant by S.

  3. (3)

    If T i is affine and { T i } i I is a commuting family, then T i and S have a common fixed point and the set {xΩ: T i (x)=S(x)=x} is compact.

  4. (4)

    If { T i } i I is a commuting family and S is affine, then there exists a common fixed point for the mappings { T i } i I .

Theorem 2.5 (see [4])

Let X be a Hausdorff complete and locally convex space, whose topology is defined by a family of semi-norms P. Let Ω be a convex, closed and bounded subset of X, I be a given set of index, and { T i } i I , S be continuous functions from Ω into Ω such that:

  1. (a)

    For every iI, T i commutes with S.

  2. (b)

    For every iI, T i is linear.

  3. (c)

    There exists jI such that for every AΩ and pP, with α(A)(p)0, we have

    α ( S ( A ) ) (p)<sup ( α ( T j ( A ) ( p ) , α ( A ) ( p ) ) ) .

Then

  1. (1)

    T j and S have a fixed point, and {xΩ: T j (x)=S(x)=x} is a nonempty and compact set.

  2. (2)

    If { T i } i I is a commuting family and S is affine, then there exists a common fixed point for the mappings in { T i } i I .

3 Fixed point theorems

It is well known that if ST has a fixed point, for given operators T and S, then S and T not necessarily have a fixed point or a common fixed point. Thus, it will be of interest to establish some results showing the existence of a common fixed point for T and S when the operator ST has a fixed point. The last fact can be used to study the existence of common solutions of equations.

Theorem 3.1 Let X be a Banach space and Ω be a nonempty convex, closed and bounded subset of X. Let T and S be two continuous functions from Ω into Ω such that:

  1. (a)

    TS=ST.

  2. (b)

    T is affine.

  3. (c)

    There exists k]0,1[ such that for any AΩ we have

    α ( S T ( A ) ) kα(A).

Then the set {xΩ:Sx=Tx=x} is nonempty and compact.

Proof Consider the operator H(x)=kS(T(x))+(1k)T(x). It is clear that H maps Ω into Ω, commutes with T and is continuous. Moreover, by (2) and (3) of Proposition 2.2, we have

α ( H ( A ) ) =α ( k S ( T ( A ) ) + ( 1 k ) T ( A ) ) k 2 α(A)+(1k)α ( T ( A ) )

for any AΩ. Furthermore, since k]0,1[ we have k 2 <k and therefore k 2 +1k<k+1k=1. Hence by making appeal to Theorem 2.4, we conclude that F 0 ={xΩ/Hx=Tx=x} is nonempty and compact. Furthermore, for any x F 0 , we have

H(x)=kST(x)+(1k)T(x)=T(x)=xS(x)=x.

Whence, S and T have a common fixed point. Let F={xΩ:Sx=Tx=x}, then

α ( S T ( F ) ) =α(F)kα(F),

which implies α(F)=0. Now, since S and T are continuous, then ℱ is compact. □

Observe that Theorem 3.1 above shows the following:

(∗) If the operator ST has a fixed point, then T and S have a common fixed point.

(∗∗) If the operator T equals the identity function, then we obtain Darbo’s fixed point theorem.

Theorem 3.2 Let X be a Banach space and Ω be a nonempty convex, closed and bounded subset of X. Let T 1 , T 2 , and S be continuous functions from Ω into Ω such that:

  1. (a)

    T 1 T 2 = T 2 T 1 and T i S=S T i for any i{1,2}.

  2. (b)

    T 1 , T 2 are affine.

  3. (c)

    There exists k]0,1[ such that for any AΩ we have

    α ( S ( A ) ) kα(A).

Then the set {xΩ:Sx= T 1 x= T 2 x=x} is nonempty and compact.

Proof Consider the following operator H(x)=S( T 1 (x)). It is clear that H maps Ω into Ω, commutes with T 1 , and is continuous. Moreover, we have for any AΩ

α ( H ( A ) ) =α ( S ( T 1 ( A ) ) ) kα ( T 1 ( A ) ) .

Hence, by Theorem 2.4, H and T 1 have a common fixed point which is a fixed point with S. Thus, the nonempty set F={xΩ: T 1 x=x} is convex, closed and bounded subset of Ω, for T 1 being continuous and affine. Moreover, by (a) we have S(F)F and T 2 (F)F. Therefore, for any AF, we have

α ( S ( T 2 ( A ) ) ) kα ( T 2 ( A ) ) .

By the same argument as before, we consider H 1 (x)=S T 2 (x) for xF. It follows that the set {xΩ:Sx= T 1 x= T 2 x=x} is nonempty and compact. □

Theorem 3.2 can be used to show that any affine operator T that commutes with S and satisfies Darbo’s condition [1] has a common fixed point with S.

Theorem 3.3 Let X be a Banach space, Ω be a nonempty convex, closed and bounded subset of X, T and S be continuous functions from Ω into Ω such that:

  1. (a)

    T commutes with S.

  2. (b)

    T is linear.

  3. (c)

    For any AΩ with α(A)0, we have

    α ( S ( T ( A ) ) ) <α(A).

Then the set {xΩ:Sx=Tx=x} is nonempty.

Proof Let k]0,1[ and consider the operator

H(x)=kST(x)+(1k)Tx

for any xΩ. It is clear that H maps Ω into Ω, commutes with T, and is continuous. Moreover, for any AΩ such that α(A)0, we have

α ( H ( A ) ) = α ( k S T ( A ) + ( 1 k ) T ( A ) ) k α ( S T ( A ) ) + ( 1 k ) α T ( A ) < k α ( A ) + ( 1 k ) α T ( A ) .

Hence, by Theorem 2.5, H and T have a common fixed point which is also a fixed point of S. □

As a consequence of Theorem 3.3 above, one can recover Sadovski’s fixed point theorem when T is equal to the identity function.

4 Example and application

4.1 Example

Let L 1 ( R + ) be the space of Lebesgue integrable functions on the measurable subset R + of ℝ with the standard norm

x= 0 + | x ( t ) | dt.

Let k L 1 ( R + ) defined by

k(t)={ e t for  t [ 0 , 1 ] , 0 for  t > 1 .

Therefore, we can see that for any A>0 and for all t 1 , t 2 R + , the following condition is satisfied:

t 1 < t 2 0 A k( t 2 s)ds 0 A k( t 1 s)ds.

Then using Krzyz’s theorem (see [6]), the linear operator

(Kx)(t)= 0 k(ts)x(s)ds

transforms the set of non-increasing functions from L 1 ( R + ) into itself. Furthermore, we can see that the norm of the convolution operator K satisfies

K1 e 1 .

The Hausdorff measure of noncompactness on the Banach space E, noted by χ(A) (see [5, 7]), is defined as

χ(A)=inf{r>0there exists a finite subset YE such that AY+ B r },

where B r is a closed ball in E centered at zero and of radius r.

Note that there is another measure γ on the space L 1 ( R + ) [8]. Indeed, for any ϵ>0, let

C(X)= lim ϵ 0 sup x X sup { D | x ( t ) | d t : D R + , meas ( D ) ϵ } ,

where meas(D) denotes the Lebesgue measure of the subset D (see [7, 8]), and

d(x)= lim T sup { T | x ( t ) | d t : x X } .

We have

γ(X)=C(X)+d(X).

Then we have the following theorem.

Theorem 4.1 (see [8])

Let X be a nonempty, bounded and compact in measure subset of L 1 ( R + ). Then

χ(X)γ(X)2χ(X).

Now, let us consider the following operator defined by

S(x)(t)=bKx ( φ ( t ) ) + e t =b 0 k(ts)x ( φ ( s ) ) ds+ e t

for any x L 1 ( R + ), where b>0 and the function φ: R + R + is increasing and absolutely continuous such that φ (t)B for some constant B>0 and for almost all t R + .

Using the same argument as in [7], we can show that for any x L 1 ( R + ), we have

Sx= 0 | S x ( t ) | dt 0 e t dt+ b K B x=1+ b K B x.

Hence, for x<r, we have

Sx<1+ b K B r1+ b ( 1 e 1 ) B r,

and if we take

1+ b ( 1 e 1 ) B r=r,

then

r= 1 1 b B ( 1 e 1 ) .

Moreover,

K1 e 1 .

This implies that S and K map the ball B r into B r , where r= 1 1 b B ( 1 e 1 ) with b< B e e 1 .

Further, let Q r be the subset of B r consisting of all functions that are a.e. positive and non-increasing on R + , which is a compact in measure (see [9]), bounded, closed and convex subset of L 1 ( R + ). Therefore, K and S map Q r into Q r (see [[7], p.454]). Whence, for any A Q r , we have

γ ( S ( A ) ) b K B γ(A) b B ( 1 e 1 ) γ(A).

Next, by making use of Theorem 4.1, we get

χ ( S ( A ) ) 2 b K B χ(A)2 b B ( 1 e 1 ) χ(A).

This implies that S is a χ-contraction with the constant 2 b K B or 2 b B (1 e 1 ). If we take b] 1 2 B e e 1 , B e e 1 [, then the constant 2 b B (1 e 1 )>1. Hence, neither Darbo’s fixed point nor Sadovski’s fixed point theorem are applied to the operator S. On the other hand, we have SK=KS, indeed the function e t for any t R + is a fixed point of K (see [4]), SK maps Q r into Q r and

γ ( S K ( A ) ) b K 2 B γ(A) b B ( 1 e 1 ) 2 γ(A).

Thus,

χ ( S K ( A ) ) 2 b K 2 B χ(A)2 b B ( 1 e 1 ) 2 χ(A),

which implies that SK is a χ-contraction with the constant 2 b B ( 1 e 1 ) 2 <1. Now, by Theorem 3.1, S and K have a common fixed point x 0 Q r satisfying

b x 0 ( φ ( t ) ) + e t = x 0 (t)= 0 + k(ts) x 0 (s)ds.

This gives rise to a solution of the following equation:

x(t)=b 0 k(ts)x ( φ ( s ) ) ds+ e t .

4.2 Common solutions of equations in Banach spaces

Let (X,) be a Banach space and B be a convex, closed and bounded subset of X. Denote by C([0,b],B) the space of all continuous functions from [0,b]; b>0, into B endowed with the norm

x = sup t [ 0 , b ] x ( t ) .

Assume that

  1. (a)

    for given fixed f:[0,b]×BB, there exists k]0,1[ such that

    f ( t , x ) f ( t , y ) kxy

    for all x,yB, t[0,b];

  2. (b)

    T i :BB are linear continuous, satisfying T i (f(t,x))=f(t, T i (x)) for any (t,x)[0,b]×B and i{1,2}.

Theorem 4.2 Under hypotheses (a) and (b), equations (5), (6), (7), and (8) have at least one common solution in C([0,b],B).

Proof First, it is clear that C([0,b],B) is a closed, bounded and convex subset of C([0,b],X). On the other hand, by considering Sx(t):=f(t,x(t)), for xC([0,b],B), we have

S x ( t ) S y ( t ) k x ( t ) y ( t ) k x y .

This implies that

S x S y k x y

for any x,yC([0,b],B). Furthermore, since any contraction with the constant k is an α-contraction with the same constant k (α is the measure of noncompactness in C([0,b],B)), then

α ( S ( A ) ) kα(A)for any AC ( [ 0 , b ] , B ) .

Finally, since S and T i commute, we conclude from Theorem 3.2 that T 1 , T 2 , and S have a common fixed point. Therefore, equations (5), (6), (7), and (8) have at least one common solution in C([0,b],B). □