Exact multiplicity of solutions and S-shaped bifurcation curves for the \(p\)-Laplacian perturbed Gelfand problem in one space variable (Q2481916)

The authors study the exact multiplicity of positive solutions and the bifurcation curve of the \(p\)-Laplacian perturbed Gelfand problem from combustion theory \[ \begin{aligned} &(\varphi_p(u'(x)))'+\lambda \exp \left(\frac{au}{a+u}\right)=0,\qquad -1<x<1,\\ &u(-1)=u(1)=0, \end{aligned} \] where \(p>1,\;\varphi_p(y)=| y| ^{p-2}y,\;(\varphi_p(u'))'\) is the one-dimensional \(p\)-Laplacian, \(\lambda >0\) is a parameter. By using the time map method, the authors give explicitly \(\widetilde{a}=\widetilde{a}(p)>0\) such that, if \(a\geq \widetilde{a}\), then the bifurcation curve is \(S\)-shaped in the \((\lambda,\;\| u\| _{\infty})\)-plane. More precisely, there exist \(0<\lambda_{*}<\lambda^{*}<\infty\) such that the problem has exactly three positive solutions for \(\lambda \in (\lambda_{*},\;\lambda^{*})\), exactly two positive solutions for \(\lambda=\lambda_{*}\) and \(\lambda=\lambda^{*}\), and a unique positive solution for \(\lambda \in (0,\;\lambda_{*})\) and \(\lambda \in (\lambda_{*},\;\infty)\).