Planar Kirchhoff equations with critical exponential growth and trapping potential (Q2172505)

The authors study a Kirchhoff equation of the form \[ \begin{cases} -\left(a+b\int_{\mathbb{R}^2}|\nabla u|^2 dx\right) \Delta u+V(x)u=f(u),\quad \text{in }\mathbb{R}^2,\\ u\in H^1\left(\mathbb{R}^2\right), \end{cases} \] where \(a,b\) are positive constants, \(V\in C(\mathbb{R}^2,(0,\infty))\) and \(f\in C(\mathbb{R},\mathbb{R})\) has critical exponential growth of Trudinger-Moser type. It is shown that the problem has nontrivial solutions and least energy solutions.