On the positive solutions of an Emden-type elliptic equation (Q1067095)

The paper deals with the problem of finding positive solutions of \[ (1)\quad \Delta u+f(| x|)u^ m=0\text{ in the whole }{\mathbb{R}}^ n;\quad u(x)\to b\quad as\quad | x| \to +\infty \] where \(n\geq 3\), \(\Delta\) is the Laplace operator, and \(b\geq 0\) is a given constant. The function f is assumed to be continuous, nonnegative, nonzero, and such that (2) \(\int^{+\infty}_{0}rf(r)dr<+\infty\). The main results of the paper are the following. Theorem 1. Let \(m>1\); assume hypothesis (2) and (3) there exist \(k\geq 0\) and \(c_ k>0\) such that \(m<(n+2+2k)/(n-2)\) and \(f(r)=c_ kr^ k+o(r^ k)\) as \(r\to 0\). Then, for a suitable \(B>0\), we have i) if \(b>B\) problem (1) has not any radially symmetric positive solution; ii) if \(0\leq b\leq B\) problem (1) has a radially symmetric positive solution. Theorem 2. Let \(m<1\) and assume hypothesis (2). Then, for any \(b\geq 0\) problem (1) has a radially symmetric positive solution.