Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 August 2002
In this paper we show the existence of the solution for theclassical brachistochrone problem under the action of aconservative field in presence of frictional forces. Assuming thatthe frictional forces and the potential grow at mostlinearly, we prove the existence of a minimizer on the traveltime between any two given points, whenever the initial velocityis great enough. We also prove the uniqueness of the minimizerwhenever the given points are sufficiently close.