On a class of critical singular quasilinear elliptic problem with indefinite weights

In this paper, the eigenvalue problem for a class of quasilinear elliptic equations involving critical potential and indefinite weights is investigated. We obtain the simplicity, strict monotonicity and isolation of the first eigenvalue λ₁. Furthermore, because of the isolation of λ₁, we prove the existence of the second eigenvalue λ₂. Then, using the Trudinger-Moser inequality, we obtain the existence of a nontrivial weak solution for a class of quasilinear elliptic equations involving critical singularity and indefinite weights in the case of 0<λ<λ₁ by the Mountain Pass Lemma, and in the case of λ₁≤λ<λ₂ by the Linking Argument Theorem.     

Multiple constant sign and nodal solutions for nonlinear elliptic equations with the p-Laplacian

We consider a nonlinear elliptic equation driven by the p-Laplacian with Dirichlet boundary conditions. Using variational techniques combined with the method of upper-lower solutions and suitable truncation arguments, we establish the existence of at least five nontrivial solutions. Two positive, two negative and a nodal (sign-changing) solution. Our framework of analysis incorporates both coercive and p-superlinear problems. Also the result on multiple constant sign solutions incorporates the case of concave-convex nonlinearities.     

Regularity of the extremal solution for some elliptic problems with singular nonlinearity and advection

In this note, we investigate the regularity of the extremal solution u^? for the semilinear elliptic equation −△u+c(x)⋅∇u=λf(u) on a bounded smooth domain of Rn with Dirichlet boundary condition. Here f is a positive nondecreasing convex function, exploding at a finite value a∈(0,∞). We show that the extremal solution is regular in the low-dimensional case. In particular, we prove that for the radial case, all extremal solutions are regular in dimension two.     

Positive solutions of semilinear biharmonic equations with critical Sobolev exponents

In this paper we study the critical growth biharmonic problem with a parameter λ and establish uniform lower bounds for Λ, which is the supremum of the set of λ, related to the existence of positive solutions of the biharmonic problem.     

Bifurcation of stable equilibria and nonlinear flux boundary condition with indefinite weight

We study bifurcation and stability of positive equilibria of a parabolic problem under a nonlinear Neumann boundary condition having a parameter and an indefinite weight. The main motivation is the selection migration problem involving two alleles and no gene flux acrossing the boundary, introduced by Fisher and Fleming, and Henry?s approach to the problem.Local and global structures of the set of equilibria are given. While the stability of constant equilibria is analyzed, the exponential stability of the unique bifurcating nonconstant equilibrium solution is established. Diagrams exhibiting the bifurcation and stability structures are also furnished. Moreover the asymptotic behavior of such solutions on the boundary of the domain, as the positive parameter goes to infinity, is also provided.The results are obtained via classical tools like the Implicit Function Theorem, bifurcation from a simple eigenvalue theorem and the exchange of stability principle, in a combination with variational and dynamical arguments.     

The Brezis-Nirenberg problem near criticality in dimension 3

We consider the problem of finding positive solutions of Δu+λu+u^q=0 in a bounded, smooth domain Ω in , under zero Dirichlet boundary conditions. Here q is a number close to the critical exponent 5 and 0<λ<λ₁. We analyze the role of Green's function of Δ+λ in the presence of solutions exhibiting single and multiple bubbling behavior at one point of the domain when either q or λ are regarded as parameters. As a special case of our results, we find that if , where λ∗ is the Brezis-Nirenberg number, i.e., the smallest value of λ for which least energy solutions for q=5 exist, then this problem is solvable if q>5 and q−5 is sufficiently small.     

Superlinear problems without Ambrosetti and Rabinowitz growth condition

Superlinear elliptic boundary value problems without Ambrosetti and Rabinowitz growth condition are considered. Existence of nontrivial solution result is established by combining some arguments used by Struwe and Tarantello and Schechter and Zou (also by Wang and Wei). Firstly, by using the mountain pass theorem due to Ambrosetti and Rabinowitz is constructed a solution for almost every parameter λ by varying the parameter λ. Then, it is considered the continuation of the solutions.     

The Calderón-Zygmund property for quasilinear divergence form equations over Reifenberg flat domains

The results by Palagachev (2009) [3] regarding global Hölder continuity for the weak solutions to quasilinear divergence form elliptic equations are generalized to the case of nonlinear terms with optimal growths with respect to the unknown function and its gradient. Moreover, the principal coefficients are discontinuous with discontinuity measured in terms of small BMO norms and the underlying domain is supposed to have fractal boundary satisfying a condition of Reifenberg flatness. The results are extended to the case of parabolic operators as well.     

On decay and blow-up of the solution for a viscoelastic wave equation with boundary damping and source terms

In this paper we consider the decay and blow-up properties of a viscoelastic wave equation with boundary damping and source terms. We first extend the decay result (for the case of linear damping) obtained by Lu et al. (On a viscoelastic equation with nonlinear boundary damping and source terms: Global existence and decay of the solution, Nonlinear Analysis: Real World Applications 12 (1) (2011), 295-303) to the nonlinear damping case under weaker assumption on the relaxation function g(t). Then, we give an exponential decay result without the relation between g^′(t) and g(t) for the linear damping case, provided that ‖g‖_L¹(0,∞) is small enough. Finally, we establish two blow-up results: one is for certain solutions with nonpositive initial energy as well as positive initial energy for both the linear and nonlinear damping cases, the other is for certain solutions with arbitrarily positive initial energy for the linear damping case.     

Constant-sign and sign-changing solutions for nonlinear eigenvalue problems

We prove the existence of multiple constant-sign and sign-changing solutions for a nonlinear elliptic eigenvalue problem under Dirichlet boundary condition involving the p$p$-Laplacian. More precisely, we establish the existence of a positive solution, of a negative solution, and of a nontrivial sign-changing solution when the eigenvalue parameter λ$\lambda$ is greater than the second eigenvalue _λ2${\lambda }_2$ of the negative p$p$-Laplacian, extending results by Ambrosetti–Lupo, Ambrosetti–Mancini, and Struwe. Our approach relies on a combined use of variational and topological tools (such as, e.g., critical points, Mountain-Pass theorem, second deformation lemma, variational characterization of the first and second eigenvalue of the p$p$-Laplacian) and comparison arguments for nonlinear differential inequalities. In particular, the existence of extremal nontrivial constant-sign solutions plays an important role in the proof of sign-changing solutions.     

Positive solutions of the p-Laplacian involving a superlinear nonlinearity with zeros

Using a combination of several methods, such as variational methods, the sub and supersolutions method, comparison principles and a priori estimates, we study existence, multiplicity, and the behavior with respect to λ of positive solutions of p-Laplace equations of the form −Δpu=λh(x,u), where the nonlinear term has p-superlinear growth at infinity, is nonnegative, and satisfies h(x,a(x))=0 for a suitable positive function a. In order to manage the asymptotic behavior of the solutions we extend a result due to Redheffer and we establish a new Liouville-type theorem for the p-Laplacian operator, where the nonlinearity involved is superlinear, nonnegative, and has positive zeros.     

Some estimates of the norm of solutions of nonlinear elliptic eigenvalue problems

We obtain estimates on the possible growth or decay rates as λ → 0 of sup |u^λ|, where uλ ? O satisfies the nonlinear elliptic boundary value problen Lu_λ = λ f(x,u_λ) in a bounded domain subject to homogensous Dirichlet boundary conditions. The estimates generalize existing results by allowing f(x,O) ≠ 0. The analysis is based on integration by parts and Sobolev inequalitie.     

A uniqueness result for a semilinear elliptic problem: A computer-assisted proof

Starting with the famous article [A. Gidas, W.M. Ni, L. Nirenberg, Symmetry and related properties via the maximum principle, Comm. Math. Phys. 68 (1979) 209-243], many papers have been devoted to the uniqueness question for positive solutions of −Δu=λu+up in Ω, u=0 on ∂Ω, where p>1 and λ ranges between 0 and the first Dirichlet eigenvalue λ₁(Ω) of −Δ. For the case when Ω is a ball, uniqueness could be proved, mainly by ODE techniques. But very little is known when Ω is not a ball, and then only for λ=0. In this article, we prove uniqueness, for all λ∈[0,λ₁(Ω)), in the case Ω=²(0,1) and p=2. This constitutes the first positive answer to the uniqueness question in a domain different from a ball. Our proof makes heavy use of computer assistance: we compute a branch of approximate solutions and prove existence of a true solution branch close to it, using fixed point techniques. By eigenvalue enclosure methods, and an additional analytical argument for λ close to λ₁(Ω), we deduce the non-degeneracy of all solutions along this branch, whence uniqueness follows from the known bifurcation structure of the problem.     

A note on the implicit function theorem for quasi-linear eigenvalue problems

We consider the quasi-linear eigenvalue problem −Δ_pu=λg(u) subject to Dirichlet boundary conditions on a bounded open set Ω, where g is a locally Lipschitz continuous function. Imposing no further conditions on Ω or g, we show that for λ near zero the problem has a bounded solution which is unique in the class of all small solutions. Moreover, this curve of solutions parameterized by λ depends continuously on the parameter.     

Multiple solutions of nonlinear elliptic systems

We proved a multiplicity result for a nonlinear elliptic system in R^N. The functional related to the system is strongly indefinite. We investigated the relation between the number of solutions and the topology of the set of the global maxima of the coefficients.     

Stationary isothermic surfaces and some characterizations of the hyperplane in the N-dimensional Euclidean space

We consider the entire graph S of a continuous real function over RN−1 with N?3. Let Ω be a domain in RN with S as a boundary. Consider in Ω the heat flow with initial temperature 0 and boundary temperature 1. The problem we consider is to characterize S in such a way that there exists a stationary isothermic surface in Ω. We show that S must be a hyperplane under some general conditions on S. This is related to Liouville or Bernstein-type theorems for some elliptic Monge-Ampère-type equation.     

Bounded components of positive solutions of abstract fixed point equations: mushrooms, loops and isolas

In this work a general class of nonlinear abstract equations satisfying a generalized strong maximum principle is considered in order to study the behavior of the bounded components of positive solutions bifurcating from the curve of trivial states (λ,u)=(λ,0) at a nonlinear eigenvalue λ=λ₀ with geometric multiplicity one. Since the unilateral theorems of Rabinowitz (J. Funct. Anal. 7 (1971) 487, Theorems 1.27 and 1.40) are not true as originally stated (cf. the very recent counterexample of Dancer, Bull. London Math. Soc. 34 (2002) 533), in order to get our main results the unilateral theorem of López-Gómez (Spectral Theory and Nonlinear Functional Analysis, Research Notes in Mathematics, vol. 426, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2001, Theorem 6.4.3) is required. Our analysis fills some serious gaps existing is some published papers that were provoked by a direct use of Rabinowitz's unilateral theory. Actually, the abstract theory developed in this paper cannot be covered with the pioneering results of Rabinowitz (1971), since in Rabinowitz's context any component of positive solutions must be unbounded, by a celebrated result attributable to Dancer (Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 52 (1973) 181).     

Strong full bounded solutions of nonlinear parabolic equations with nonlinear boundary conditions

We study the existence of (generalized) bounded solutions existing for all times for nonlinear parabolic equations with nonlinear boundary conditions on a domain that is bounded in space and unbounded in time (the entire real line). We give a counterexample which shows that a (weak) maximum principle does not hold in general for linear problems defined on the entire real line in time. We consider a boundedness condition at minus infinity to establish (one-sided) L^∞-a priori estimates for solutions to linear boundary value problems and derive a weak maximum principle which is valid on the entire real line in time. We then take up the case of nonlinear problems with (possibly) nonlinear boundary conditions. By using comparison techniques, some (delicate) a priori estimates obtained herein, and nonlinear approximation methods, we prove the existence and, in some instances, positivity and uniqueness of strong full bounded solutions existing for all times.     

Non-constant positive steady states of the Sel'kov model

This paper deals with the reaction-diffusion system known as the Sel'kov model with the homogeneous Neumann boundary condition. This model has been applied to various problems in chemistry and biology. We first give a priori estimates (positive upper and lower bounds) of positive steady states, and then study the non-existence, bifurcation and global existence of non-constant positive steady states as the parameters λ and θ are varied.     

Existence and regularity of extremal solutions for a mean-curvature equation

We study a class of mean curvature equations −Mu=H+λup where M denotes the mean curvature operator and for p?1. We show that there exists an extremal parameter λ^∗ such that this equation admits a minimal weak solutions for all λ∈[0,λ^∗], while no weak solutions exists for λ>λ^∗ (weak solutions will be defined as critical points of a suitable functional). In the radially symmetric case, we then show that minimal weak solutions are classical solutions for all λ∈[0,λ^∗] and that another branch of classical solutions exists in a neighborhood (λ_∗−η,λ^∗) of λ^∗.