Sobolev inequality and the exact multiplicity of solutions and positive solutions to a second-order Neumann boundary value problem (Q970488)

The author discusses exact multiplicity results for the Neumann boundary value problem \[ x''(t)+g(x(t)) = h(t), \;0 \leq t \leq 1, \] \[ x'(0) = x'(1) = 0, \] where \(g \in C^1 (\mathbb{R},\mathbb{R}), \;g'(x) < \frac{\pi^2}{4}\;\forall \;x \in \mathbb{R},\) \(g'\) is strictly increasing and \(\lim_{x \rightarrow \pm \infty}\;g(x) = + \infty.\) Under these assumptions, the existence of a constant \(M \in \mathbb{R}\) is proved such that: {\parindent6mm \begin{itemize}\item[(i)] If \(h(t) \leq M,\) with strict inequality on a set of positive measure, then the previous problem has not solution. \item[(ii)] If \(h(t) \equiv M,\) then the previous problem has exactly one solution. \item[(iii)] If \(h(t) \geq M,\) with strict inequality on a set of positive measure, then the previous problem has exactly two solutions. \end{itemize}} The proof uses the Sobolev inequality, comparison theorems, the maximum principle and the upper-lower solution method. An analogous result is shown when \(g'\) is strictly decreasing and \(\lim_{x \rightarrow \pm \infty}\;g(x) = - \infty.\) Finally, these results are extended to the case of positive solutions and singular nonlinearities \(g \in C^1 (0,+\infty)\) such that \(\lim_{x\rightarrow 0^+} \;g(x) = \lim_{x\rightarrow + \infty} \;g(x) = +\infty.\)