Existence of solutions for degenerate quasilinear elliptic equations

This paper deals with a class of degenerate quasilinear elliptic equations of the form −div(a(x,u,∇u)=g−div(f), where a(x,u,∇u) is allowed to be degenerate with the unknown u. We prove existence of bounded solutions under some hypothesis on f and g. Moreover we prove that there exists a renormalized solution in the case where g∈L¹(Ω) and f∈(L^p′(Ω))^N.     

Lane-Emden-Fowler equations with convection and singular potential

We are concerned with singular elliptic problems of the form −Δu±p(d(x))g(u)=λf(x,u)+μa|∇u| in Ω, where Ω is a smooth bounded domain in RN, d(x)=dist(x,∂Ω), λ>0, μ∈R, 0<a?2, and f is a nondecreasing function. We assume that p(d(x)) is a positive weight with possible singular behavior on the boundary of Ω and that the nonlinearity g is unbounded around the origin. Taking into account the competition between the anisotropic potential p(d(x)), the convection term a|∇u|, and the singular nonlinearity g, we establish various existence and nonexistence results.     

Multiple positive and 2-nodal symmetric solutions of elliptic problems with critical nonlinearity

We consider the problem −Δu+a(x)u=f(x)|u|^2*−2u in Ω, u=0 on ∂Ω, where Ω is a bounded smooth domain in RN, N?4, is the critical Sobolev exponent, and a,f are continuous functions. We assume that Ω, a and f are invariant under the action of a group of orthogonal transformations. We obtain multiplicity results which contain information about the symmetry and symmetry-breaking properties of the solutions, and about their nodal domains. Our results include new multiplicity results for the Brezis-Nirenberg problem −Δu+λu=|u|^2*−2u in Ω, u=0 on ∂Ω.     

The heterogeneous Allen-Cahn equation in a ball: Solutions with layers and spikes

Let u? be a single layered radially symmetric unstable solution of the Allen-Cahn equation −?²Δu=u(u−a(|x|))(1−u) over the unit ball with Neumann boundary conditions. Based on our estimate of the small eigenvalues of the linearized eigenvalue problem at u? when ? is small, we construct solutions of the form u?+v?, with v? non-radially symmetric and close to zero in the unit ball except near one point x₀ such that |x₀| is close to a nondegenerate critical point of a(r). Such a solution has a sharp layer as well as a spike.     

Existence and non-existence of solutions for a class of Monge-Ampère equations

We study the boundary value problems for Monge-Ampère equations: detD²u=e−u in Ω⊂Rn, n?1, u_|∂Ω=0. First we prove that any solution on the ball is radially symmetric by the argument of moving plane. Then we show there exists a critical radius such that if the radius of a ball is smaller than this critical value there exists a solution, and vice versa. Using the comparison between domains we can prove that this phenomenon occurs for every domain. Finally we consider an equivalent problem with a parameter detD²u=e−tu in Ω, u_|∂Ω=0, t?0. By using Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction method we get the local structure of the solutions near a degenerate point; by Leray-Schauder degree theory, a priori estimate and bifurcation theory we get the global structure.     

Concentration on minimal submanifolds for a singularly perturbed Neumann problem

We consider the equation −ε²Δu+u=up in Ω⊆RN, where Ω is open, smooth and bounded, and we prove concentration of solutions along k-dimensional minimal submanifolds of ∂Ω, for N?3 and for k∈{1,…,N−2}. We impose Neumann boundary conditions, assuming 1<p<(N−k+2)/(N−k−2) and ε→⁰⁺. This result settles in full generality a phenomenon previously considered only in the particular case N=3 and k=1.     

Renormalized solutions of degenerate elliptic problems

We consider a general class of degenerate elliptic problems of the form Au+g(x,u,Du)=f, where A is a Leray-Lions operator from a weighted Sobolev space into its dual. We assume that g(x,s,ξ) is a Caratheodory function verifying a sign condition and a growth condition on ξ. Existence of renormalized solutions is established in the L¹-setting.     

Principal eigenvalues and the Dirichlet problem for fully nonlinear elliptic operators

We study uniformly elliptic fully nonlinear equations of the type F(D²u,Du,u,x)=f(x). We show that convex positively 1-homogeneous operators possess two principal eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, and study these objects; we obtain existence and uniqueness results for nonproper operators whose principal eigenvalues (in some cases, only one of them) are positive; finally, we obtain an existence result for nonproper Isaac's equations.     

Solutions concentrating on higher dimensional subsets for singularly perturbed elliptic equations II

We construct spike layered solutions for the semilinear elliptic equation −ε²Δu+V(x)u=K(x)up−1 on a domain Ω⊂RN which may be bounded or unbounded. The solutions concentrate simultaneously on a finite number of m-dimensional spheres in Ω. These spheres accumulate as ε→0 at a prescribed sphere in Ω whose location is determined by the potential functions V,K.     

Uniqueness of positive solutions for a class of elliptic systems

In this article, we consider uniqueness of positive radial solutions to the elliptic system Δu+a(|x|)f(u,v)=0, Δv+b(|x|)g(u,v)=0, subject to the Dirichlet boundary condition on the open unit ball in RN (N?2). Our uniqueness results applies to, for instance, f(u,v)=uqvp, g(u,v)=upvq, p,q>0, p+q<1 or more general cases.     

Symmetry breaking for a class of semilinear elliptic problems and the bifurcation diagram for a 1-dimensional problem

We study the behaviour of the positive solutions to the Dirichlet problem IR ⁿ in the unit ball in IR ^R wherep<(N+2)/(N−2) ifN≥3 and λ varies over IR. For a special class of functionsg viz.,g(x)=u ₀ ^p (x) whereu ₀ is the unique positive solution at λ=0, we prove that for certain λ’s nonradial solutions bifurcate from radially symmetric positive solutions. WhenN=1, we obtain the complete bifurcation diagram for the positive solution curve.     

Elliptic systems with measurable coefficients of the type of Lamé system in three dimensions

We study the 3×3 elliptic systems ∇(a(x)∇×u)−∇(b(x)∇⋅u)=f, where the coefficients a(x) and b(x) are positive scalar functions that are measurable and bounded away from zero and infinity. We prove that weak solutions of the above system are Hölder continuous under some minimal conditions on the inhomogeneous term f. We also present some applications and discuss several related topics including estimates of the Green?s functions and the heat kernels of the above systems.     

Concentration phenomena for a fourth-order equation with exponential growth: The radial case

We let Ω be a smooth bounded domain of R⁴ and a sequence of functions (Vk)_k∈N∈C⁰(Ω) such that limk→+∞Vk=1 in . We consider a sequence of functions (uk)_k∈N∈C⁴(Ω) such that Δ²uk=Vke4uk in Ω for all k∈N. We address in this paper the question of the asymptotic behavior of the (uk)'s when k→+∞. The corresponding problem in dimension 2 was considered by Brézis and Merle, and Li and Shafrir (among others), where a blow-up phenomenon was described and where a quantization of this blow-up was proved. Surprisingly, as shown by Adimurthi, Struwe and the author in [Adimurthi, F. Robert and M. Struwe, Concentration phenomena for Liouville equations in dimension four, J. Eur. Math. Soc., in press, available on http://www-math.unice.fr/~frobert], a similar quantization phenomenon does not hold for this fourth-order problem. Assuming that the uk's are radially symmetrical, we push further the analysis of the mentioned work. We prove that there are exactly three types of blow-up and we describe each type in a very detailed way.     

Nodal solutions for singularly perturbed equations with critical exponential growth

The existence and concentration behavior of nodal solutions are established for the equation −?²Δu+V(z)u=f(u) in Ω, where Ω is a domain in R², not necessarily bounded, V is a positive Hölder continuous function and f∈C¹ is an odd function having critical exponential growth.     

On symmetry of nonnegative solutions of elliptic equations

We consider the Dirichlet problem for a class of fully nonlinear elliptic equations on a bounded domain Ω. We assume that Ω is symmetric about a hyperplane H and convex in the direction perpendicular to H. By a well-known result of Gidas, Ni and Nirenberg and its generalizations, all positive solutions are reflectionally symmetric about H and decreasing away from the hyperplane in the direction orthogonal to H. For nonnegative solutions, this result is not always true. We show that, nonetheless, the symmetry part of the result remains valid for nonnegative solutions: any nonnegative solution u is symmetric about H  . Moreover, we prove that if u?0$u?0$, then the nodal set of u divides the domain Ω into a finite number of reflectionally symmetric subdomains in which u has the usual Gidas–Ni–Nirenberg symmetry and monotonicity properties. We also show several examples of nonnegative solutions with a nonempty interior nodal set.     

Existence and asymptotic behavior for elliptic equations with singular anisotropic potentials

We study the equation Δu+u|u|^p−1+V(x)u+f(x)=0 in Rn, where n?3 and p>n/(n−2). The forcing term f and the potential V can be singular at zero, change sign and decay polynomially at infinity. We can consider anisotropic potentials of form h(x)|x|⁻² where h is not purely angular. We obtain solutions u which blow up at the origin and do not belong to any Lebesgue space Lr. Also, u is positive and radial, in case f and V are. Asymptotic stability properties of solutions, their behavior near the singularity, and decay are addressed.     

Multi-bump bound states of nonlinear Schrödinger equations with electromagnetic fields and critical frequency

In this paper, we are concerned with the existence and asymptotic behavior of standing wave solutions ψ(x,t)=e−iλEt of nonlinear Schrödinger equations with electromagnetic fields , (t,x)∈R×RN, with E being a critical frequency in the sense that infx∈RNW(x)=E. We show that if the zero set of W−E has several isolated connected components Ω₁,…,Ωk such that the interior of Ωi is not empty and ∂Ωi is smooth, then for λ>0 large there exists, for any non-empty subset J⊂{1,2,…,k}, a standing wave solution which is trapped in a neighborhood of _?j∈JΩj.