Boundary-layers for a Neumann problem at higher critical exponents (Q1680752)

The authors study the Neumann problem \[ - \Delta v+v=v^{q-1}, \quad v>0 \text{ in } D, \quad\partial_{\vec{n}} v \big|_{\partial D}=0, \tag{1} \] where \(D \subset \mathbb{R}^N\) is an open bounded domain, \(\vec{n}\) is the unit inner normal at the boundary \(\partial D\) and \(q > 2\). The authors prove that for any integer, \(1\leq h \leq N - 3\), in some suitable smooth domains \(D\), the problem (1) has a solution which blows-up along a \(h\)-dimensional minimal submanifold of the boundary \(\partial D\) as \(q\) approaches from either below or above the higher critical Sobolev exponent \(\frac{2(N-h)}{N-h-2}\) . To get this result the authors study the auxiliary anisotropic problem \[ -\operatorname{div}(a(x) \nabla u) + a(x)u =u^{q-1}, \quad u>0 \text{ for } x \in \Omega, \quad \partial_{\vec{n}_*} u |_{\partial \Omega}=0, \tag{2} \] where \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^n\) is a bounded smooth domain, \(a \in C^2(\bar{\Omega})\), \(\min\limits_{x \in \bar{\Omega}} a(x) >0\), \(q=\frac{2n}{n-2}+\varepsilon\), \(\varepsilon\) is a small positive or negative parameter and \(\vec{n}_*\) is the unit inner normal at the boundary \(\partial \Omega\). The main goal of this study is to construct a solution of the problem (2) which blows-up at a suitable critical point \(\xi_0\) of \(a(\cdot)\) constrained on the boundary \(\partial \Omega\) as \(\varepsilon\) goes to \(0\).