The Neumann Problem for Semilinear Elliptic Equations with Critical Sobolev Exponent

In this survey article we discuss the existence and the properties of least energy solutions of a semilinear critical Neumann problem. The main focus is on the joint effect of the shape of the graph of coefficients of the critical nonlinearities and the geometry of the boundary on the existence of solutions. Received: July 2006     

Exterior nonlinear Neumann problem

We consider the solvability of the Neumann problem for equation (1.1) in exterior domains in both cases: subcritical and critical. We establish the existence of least energy solutions. In the subcritical case the coefficient b(x) is allowed to have a potential well whose steepness is controlled by a parameter λ > 0. We show that least energy solutions exhibit a tendency to concentrate to a solution of a nonlinear problem with mixed boundary value conditions.     

On a biharmonic equation involving nearly critical exponent

This paper is concerned with a biharmonic equation under the Navier boundary condition , u > 0 in Ω and u = Δu = 0 on ∂Ω, where Ω is a smooth bounded domain in , n ≥ 5, and ε > 0. We study the asymptotic behavior of solutions of (P _−ε) which are minimizing for the Sobolev quotient as ε goes to zero. We show that such solutions concentrate around a point x ₀ ∈Ω as ε → 0, moreover x ₀ is a critical point of the Robin’s function. Conversely, we show that for any nondegenerate critical point x ₀ of the Robin’s function, there exist solutions of (P _−ε) concentrating around x ₀ as ε → 0. Finally we prove that, in contrast with what happened in the subcritical equation (P _−ε), the supercritical problem (P _+ε) has no solutions which concentrate around a point of Ω as ε → 0. Work finished when the authors were visiting Mathematics Department of the University of Roma “La Sapienza”. They would like to thank the Mathematics Department for its warm hospitality. The authors also thank Professors Massimo Grossi and Filomena Pacella for their constant support.     

Critical points for nondifferentiable functions in presence of splitting

A classical critical point theorem in presence of splitting established by Brézis-Nirenberg is extended to functionals which are the sum of a locally Lipschitz continuous term and of a convex, proper, lower semicontinuous function. The obtained result is then exploited to prove a multiplicity theorem for a family of elliptic variational-hemivariational eigenvalue problems.     

Critical eigenvalues for a nonlinear problem

We study the application, , where is the supremum of positive s such that the problem admits a solution. Where B ₁ is the unit ball in We show that is a decreasing function, with where is the unique solution of the problem . We also give the explicit solutions of the problem , when and show that . We show that the problem doesnt admit a solution. In the end, we give a numerical approximation of , when .     

Large solutions to the p-Laplacian for large p

In this work we consider the behaviour for large values of p of the unique positive weak solution u _p to Δ _p u = u ^q in Ω, u = +∞ on , where q > p − 1. We take q = q(p) and analyze the limit of u _p as p → ∞. We find that when q(p)/p → Q the behaviour strongly depends on Q. If 1 < Q < ∞ then solutions converge uniformly in compacts to a viscosity solution of with u = +∞ on . If Q = 1 then solutions go to ∞ in the whole Ω and when Q = ∞ solutions converge to 1 uniformly in compact subsets of Ω, hence the boundary blow-up is lost in the limit.     

Three-term asymptotics for the boundary layers of semilinear elliptic eigenvalue problems

We consider the nonlinear eigenvalue problem −Δu=λ f(u) in Ω u=0 on ∂Ω, where Ω is a ball or an annulus in R^N (N ≥ 2) and λ > 0 is a parameter. It is known that if λ >> 1, then the corresponding positive solution u_λ develops boundary layers under some conditions on f. We establish the asymptotic formulas for the slope of the boundary layers of u_λ with the exact second term and the ‘optimal’ estimate of the third term.     

Solutions and multiple solutions for problems with the <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Laplacian

In this paper we consider two nonlinear elliptic problems driven by the p-Laplacian and having a nonsmooth potential (hemivariational inequalities). The first is an eigenvalue problem and we prove that if the parameter λ < λ₂ = the second eigenvalue of the p-Laplacian, then there exists a nontrivial smooth solution. The second problem is resonant both near zero and near infinity for the principal eigenvalue of the p-Laplacian. For this problem we prove a multiplicity result. Our approach is variational based on the nonsmooth critical point theory. Second author is Corresponding author.     

Multiple Positive Solutions for Eigenvalue Problems of Hemivariational Inequalities

We study a nonlinear eigenvalue problem with a nonsmooth potential. The subgradients of the potential are only positive near the origin (from above) and near +∞. Also the subdifferential is not necessarily monotone (i.e. the potential is not convex). Using variational techniques and the method of upper and lower solutions, we establish the existence of at least two strictly positive smooth solutions for all the parameters in an interval. Our approach uses the nonsmooth critical point theory for locally Lipschitz functions. A byproduct of our analysis is a generalization of a result of Brezis-Nirenberg (CRAS, 317 (1993)) on H¹₀ versus C¹₀ minimizers of a C¹-functional.     

A bifurcation problem governed by the boundary condition I

We deal with positive solutions of Δu = a(x)u ^p in a bounded smooth domain subject to the boundary condition ∂u/∂v = λu, λ a parameter, p > 1. We prove that this problem has a unique positive solution if and only if 0 < λ < σ₁ where, roughly speaking, σ₁ is finite if and only if |∂Ω ∩ {a = 0}| > 0 and coincides with the first eigenvalue of an associated eigenvalue problem. Moreover, we find the limit profile of the solution as λ → σ₁. Supported by DGES and FEDER under grant BFM2001-3894 (J. García-Melián and J. Sabina) and ANPCyT PICT No. 03-05009 (J. D. Rossi). J.D. Rossi is a member of CONICET.     

Maximum principles for the polyharmonic equation on Lipschitz domains

The Agmon-Miranda maximum principle for the polyharmonic equations of all orders is shown to hold in Lipschitz domains in ℝ³. In ℝn,n≥4, the Agmon-Miranda maximum principle andL ^p-Dirichlet estimates for certainp>2 are shown to fail in Lipschitz domains for these equations. In particular if 4≤n≤2m+1 theL ^p Dirichlet problem for Δ ^m fails to be solvable forp>2(n−1)/(n−3). Supported in part by the NSF.     

Single-point condensation phenomena for a four-dimensional biharmonic Ren–Wei problem

We continue to study the asymptotic behavior of least energy solutions to the following fourth order elliptic problem (E _p ): as p gets large, where Ω is a smooth bounded domain in R ⁴ . In our earlier paper (Takahashi in Osaka J. Math., 2006), we have shown that the least energy solutions remain bounded uniformly in p and they have one or two “peaks” away form the boundary. In this note, following the arguments in Adimurthi and Grossi (Proc. AMS 132(4):1013–1019, 2003) and Lin and Wei (Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 56:784–809, 2003), we will obtain more sharper estimates of the upper bound of the least energy solutions and prove that the least energy solutions must develop single-point spiky pattern, under the assumption that the domain is convex.     

Critical point theorems in cones and multiple positive solutions of elliptic problems

We obtain critical point variants of the compression fixed point theorem in cones of Krasnoselskii. Critical points are localized in a set defined by means of two norms. In applications to semilinear elliptic boundary value problems this makes possible the use of local Moser-Harnack inequalities for the estimations from below. Multiple solutions are found for problems with oscillating nonlinearity.     

Infinitely many solutions of dirichlet problem for <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-mean curvature operator

The existence of infinitely many solutions of the following Dirichlet problem for p-mean curvature operator: is considered, where Θ is a bounded domain in R ⁿ (n>p>1) with smooth boundary ∂Θ. Under some natural conditions together with some conditions weaker than (AR) condition, we prove that the above problem has infinitely many solutions by a symmetric version of the Mountain Pass Theorem if . Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10171032) and the Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (011606).     

Semilinear subelliptic problems with critical growth on Carnot groups

We prove existence and multiplicity of solutions for the semilinear subelliptic problem with critical growth in Ω, u = 0 on ∂Ω, where is a sublaplacian on a Carnot group , 2* = 2Q/(Q − 2) is the critical Sobolev exponent for and Ω is a bounded domain of .     

Existence and regularity for generalised harmonic maps associated to a nonlocal polyconvex energy of Skyrme type

We prove existence and regularity of critical points of arbitrary degree for a generalised harmonic map problem, in which there is an additional nonlocal polyconvex term in the energy, heuristically of the same order as the Dirichlet term. The proof of regularity hinges upon a special nonlinear structure in the Euler–Lagrange equation similar to that possessed by the harmonic map equation. The functional is of a type appearing in certain models of the quantum Hall effect describing nonlocal Skyrmions.     

Some Applications to Variational–Hemivariational Inequalities of the Principle of Symmetric Criticality for Motreanu–Panagiotopoulos Type Functionals

Using the principle of symmetric criticality for Motreanu–Panagiotopoulos type functionals we give some existence and multiplicity results for a class of variational–hemivariational inequalities on ^L+M .This work was partially supported by MEdC-ANCS, research project CEEX 2983/11.10.2005.     

Symbolic calculus for boundary value problems on manifolds with edges

Boundary value problems for (pseudo-) differential operators on a manifold with edges can be characterised by a hierarchy of symbols. The symbolic structure is responsible for ellipticity and for the nature of parametrices within an algebra of “edge-degenerate” pseudo-differential operators. The edge symbolic component of that hierarchy takes values in boundary value problems on an infinite model cone, with edge variables and covariables as parameters. Edge symbols play a crucial role in this theory, in particular, the contribution with holomorphic operator-valued Mellin symbols. We establish a calculus in a framework of “twisted homogeneity” that refers to strongly continuous groups of isomorphisms on weighted cone Sobolev spaces. We then derive an equivalent representation with a particularly transparent composition behaviour.     

<Emphasis Type="Bold">C</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Bold">1,</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">α</Emphasis></Superscript> regularity for infinity harmonic functions in two dimensions

We propose a new method for showing C ^{1, α} regularity for solutions of the infinity Laplacian equation and provide full details of the proof in two dimensions. The proof for dimensions n ≥ 3 depends upon some conjectured local gradient estimates for solutions of certain transformed PDE. LCE is supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0500452. OS was supported in part by the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, Berkeley.