Stationary Kirchhoff systems in closed 3-dimensional manifolds (Q745584)

Let \((M^{3},g)\) be a closed Riemannian 3-manifold, \(p\in\mathbb{N}^{\ast}\) be a nonzero integer, \(a,b\in (0,\infty)\), and \(A:M\rightarrow M^{p}_{s}\) be a \(C^{1}\)-map from \(M\) into the space \(M^{p}_{s}(\mathbb{R})\) of symmetric \(p\times p\) matrices with real entries. Given \(q\in(4,6]\), the article considers the stationary Kirchhoff system of \(p\) equations, \[ \left( a+b\sum_{j=1}^{p}\int_{M}\mid \nabla u_{j}\mid^{2}dv_{g}\right)\Delta_{g}u_{i}+\sum_{j+1}^{p}A_{ij}u_{j}=\mid U\mid ^{q-2} u_{i},\tag{1} \] for all \(i=1,\dots,p\), where \(\Delta_{g}=-\operatorname{div}_{g}\nabla\) is the Laplace-Beltrami operator, the \(A_{ij}\)'s are the components of \(A\), \(U=(u_{1},\dots,u_{p})\), \(\mid U\mid=\sqrt{\sum_{i=1}^{p}u^{2}_{j}}\), and \(u_{i}\geq 0\) in \(M\), for all \(i\). When \(q=6\), it is a critical system by the Sobolev viewpoint, since \(n=3\) implies \(2^{\star}=\tfrac{2.3}{3-2}=6\) (\(2^{\star}\) is the critical Sobolev exponent). The article address the following questions: (i) existence of solutions, (ii) to prove the existence of a priori bounds for arbitrary solutions and compactness properties for the system (1) and (iii) investigate the question of the the nonexistence and uniqueness of solutions to (1). The main aim is to address the critical case \(q=6\) and the subcritical case \(q\in (4,6)\). The Kirchhoff equation goes back to \textit{G. Kirchhoff} [Vorlesungen über mathematische Physik. I. Mechanik Leipzig: Teubner (1876; JFM 08.0542.01)]. It was proposed as an extension of the classical D'Alembert's wave equation for the vibration of elastic strings. The one dimensional, time dependent equation was written as \[ \rho\frac{\partial^{2}u}{\partial t^{2}}-\left(\frac{P_{0}}{h}+\frac{E}{2L}\int_{0}^{L}\mid \frac{\partial u}{\partial x}\mid^{2}dx\right)dx. \frac{\partial^{2}u}{\partial x^{2}} =0. \] where \(L\) is the length of the string, \(h\) is the area of cross-section, \(E\) is the young modulus (elastic modulus) of the material, \(\rho\) is the mass density, and \(P_{0}\) is the initial tension. Almost one century later, Jacques Louis Lions returned to the equation and proposed an abstract framework for the general Kirchhoff equation in higher dimension with external force term. Lions equation was written as \[ \frac{\partial^{2}u}{\partial t^{2}}+\left(a+b\int_{\Omega}\mid\nabla u\mid^{2}dx\right)\Delta u=f(x,u) \] where \(\Delta=-\sum_{i}\frac{\partial^{2}}{\partial x^{2}_{i}}\) is the Euclidean Laplace-Beltrami operator. The authors remark that they use the subcritical existence together with stability properties in the critical case to establish that the critical system has a solution. In this way, let \(\{a_{\alpha}\}\) and \(\{b_{\alpha}\}\) be two sequences of positive real numbers, \(\{A_{\alpha}\}\) a sequence of \(C^{1}\)-maps \(A^{\alpha}:M\rightarrow M^{p}_{s}(\mathbb{R})\), and \(\{p_{\alpha}\}\) a sequence of positive real number in \((4,6]\). They consider the system \[ \left( a_{\alpha}+b_{\alpha}\sum_{j=1}^{p}\int_{M}\mid \nabla u_{j}\mid^{2}dv_{g}\right)\Delta_{g}u_{i}+\sum_{j+1}^{p}A^{\alpha}_{ij}u_{j}=\mid U\mid ^{p_{\alpha}-2} u_{i},\tag{2} \] for all \(i=1,\dots,p\), where \(A^{\alpha}=A^{\alpha}_{ij}\) (\(1\leq i,j\leq p\)). Theorem 1. (subcritical case) Let \((M^{3},g)\) be a closed Riemannian 3-manifold, \(p\in\mathbb{N}^{\ast}\) be a nonzero integer, \(a,b\in (0,\infty)\), \(q\in(4,6]\), \(\theta\in (0,1)\), and \(A:M\rightarrow M^{p}_{s}\) be a \(C^{1}\)-map. So, for any sequences: (i) \(\{a_{\alpha}\}\) and \(\{b_{\alpha}\}\) of positive real numbers such that \(\lim a_{\alpha}=a\) and \(\lim b_{\alpha}=b\), (ii) \(\{A_{\alpha}\}\) of \(C^{1}\)-maps \(A^{\alpha}:M\rightarrow M^{p}_{s}(\mathbb{R})\) such that \(\lim A^{\alpha}=A\) in \(C^{1}\)-topology, (iii) \(\{p_{\alpha}\}\) of positive real number in \((4,6)\) such that \(\lim p_{\alpha}=q\), (iv) \(\{U_{\alpha}\}\) of nonnegative solutions of (2), there exists \(C>0\) such that \(\| U_{\alpha}\|_{C^{2,\theta}}\leq C\). Moreover, \((1)\) possesses a nonnegative nontrivial \(C^{2}\) solution if \(\Delta_{g}+\frac{1}{a}A\) is coercive and \(-A\) is cooperative. Theorem 2. (finite energy in the critical case) Let \((M^{3},g)\) be a closed Riemannian 3-manifold, \(p\in\mathbb{N}^{\ast}\) be a nonzero integer, \(a,b\in (0,\infty)\), \(q\in(4,6]\), \(\theta\in (0,1)\), and \(A:M\rightarrow M^{p}_{s}\) be a \(C^{1}\)-map. So, for any sequences: (i) \(\{a_{\alpha}\}\) and \(\{b_{\alpha}\}\) of positive real numbers such that \(\lim a_{\alpha}=a\) and \(\lim b_{\alpha}=b\), (ii) \(\{A_{\alpha}\}\) of \(C^{1}\)-maps \(A^{\alpha}:M\rightarrow M^{p}_{s}(\mathbb{R})\) such that \(\lim A^{\alpha}=A\) in \(C^{1}\)-topology, (iii) \(\{p_{\alpha}\}\subset (4,6]\) of positive real number in such that \(\lim p_{\alpha}= 6\), (iv) \(\{U_{\alpha}\}\) of nonnegative solutions of (2), there holds that \(\| U_{\alpha}\|_{H^{1}}=O(1) \). Theorem 3. (nonexistence and uniqueness) Let \((M^{3},g)\) be a closed Riemannian 3-manifold, \(p\in\mathbb{N}^{\ast}\) be a nonzero integer, \(a,b\in (0,\infty)\) and \(q\in(4,6]\). There exists \(\epsilon>0\) such that for any \(A\in M^{p}_{s}(\mathbb{R})\), if \(\| A\|_{M^{p}_{s}(\mathbb{R}}<\epsilon\), then either (i) (1) possesses only constant solutions, and more precisely \(\# \mathrm{Sp}(A)^{+}\)-families of constant solutions (several of which can be finite), or (ii) \(A\) does not have positive eigenvalues with nonnegative nontrivial eigenvectors and (1) does not possesses any nonnegative nontrivial solution.