Superlinear Neumann problems with the \(p\)-Laplacian plus an indefinite potential (Q522151)

The authors consider the nonlinear Neumann problem \[ -\Delta_p u+\beta(z)|u|^{p-2}u=f(z,u)\text{ in }\Omega,\quad \frac{\partial u}{\partial n}=0\text{ on }\partial \Omega,\tag{1} \] where \(\Omega\) is a bounded open domain in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) with \(C^2\)-boundary, \(\Delta_p\) is the \(p\)-Laplacian operator (\(p>1\)), \(\beta:\Omega \rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is a measurable function which is allowed to be sign-changing, and \(f:\Omega \times \mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is a Carathéodory function with \(f(z,0)=0\), for a.e. \(z\in \Omega\). The first main result of this paper states the existence of \(C^{1,\alpha}(\Omega)\) nontrivial solutions to problem \((1)\) by assuming that \(\beta\in L^q(\Omega)\), for some \(q>\frac{Np}{p-1}\), and that \(f\) satisfies certain growth conditions which do not imply the classical Ambrosetti-Rabinowitz growth condition. Under some additional conditions on \(f\), and assuming \(\beta\in L^\infty(\Omega)\), the authors also prove the existence of three nontrivial \(C^1(\overline{\Omega})\) solutions, two of which having constant sign. Next, the authors consider the following perturbation of problem (1): \[ -\Delta_p u+\beta(z)|u|^{p-2}u=\lambda g(z,u)+f(z,u)\text{ in }\Omega,\quad \frac{\partial u}{\partial n}=0\text{ on }\partial \Omega,\tag{2} \] where \(g:\Omega \times \mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is a Carathéodory function, with \(g(z,0)=0\), and \(\lambda\) is a real parameter. The functions \(f,g\) are supposed, respectively, \((p-1)\)-superlinear and \((p-1)\)-sublinear at \(0\) and at \(\infty\). For \(\lambda>0\) small enough, the existence of five nontrivial solutions and, for \(p=2\), the existence of six nontrivial solutions are established for problem (2). Finally, a bifurcation result for positive solutions to problem (2) is proved. The proofs are based on critical point theory, critical groups, comparison results, truncation and perturbation arguments.