Positive solutions for the Robin \(p\)-Laplacian problem with competing nonlinearities (Q1711684)

The authors consider the following nonlinear parametric Robin problem \[ \begin{cases} -\Delta_{p} u(z)= \lambda f(z,u(z)) &\text{in }\Omega,\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial n_p}+\beta(z)u^{p-1}=0 &\text{on }\partial \Omega,\\ \lambda>0, \;u\geq 0, \;1<p<+\infty, \end{cases} \] where \(\Omega\subseteq \mathbb{R}^N\) is a bounded domain with a \(C^2\)-boundary \(\partial\Omega\), \(\Delta_{p}\) stands for the \(p\)-Laplacian, \(\lambda>0\) is a real parameter and \(f:\Omega\times\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) is a Carathéodory function which exhibits competing nonlinearities (concave and convex terms). The authors prove two bifurcation-type results describing the set of positive solutions as the parameter varies. In the process they also prove two strong comparison principles for Robin equations. These results are proved for differential operators which are more general than the \(p\)-Laplacian and need not be homogeneous.