Compact embedding from \(W_0^{1,2}(\Omega)\) to \(L^{q(x)}(\Omega )\) and its application to nonlinear elliptic boundary value problem with variable critical exponent (Q2465894)

For a (smoothly) bounded domain \(\Omega\) in \(\mathbb{R}^N\), with \(N\geq 3\), the Sobolev inequalities imply a continuous embedding \(W^{1,2}_0(\Omega)\to L^q(\Omega)\) whenever \(1\leq q\leq 2N/(N- 2)\). In this paper, the authors consider the case where the exponent \(q\) is replaced by a measurable function \(q(x)\). Suppose there exist a point \(x_0\in\Omega\) and constants \(C> 0\), \(\eta> 0\), \(0< l< 1\) such that \[ \text{ess\,sup}\{q(x):|x- x_0|\geq\eta\}< 2N/(N -2) \] and \[ \text{ess\,sup}\{q(x)+ C(\log(1/|x- x_0|))^{-l}: |x- x_0|\leq\eta\}\leq 2N/(N -2). \] Then the embedding \(W^{1,2}_0(\Omega)\to L^{q(x)}(\Omega)\) is compact. As an application, they show that for \(\text{ess\,inf\,}q(x)> 2\) there exists a positive solution to the nonlinear elliptic boundary value problem \(-\Delta u= u^{q(x)-1}\) in \(\Omega\), \(u= 0\) on \(\partial\Omega\).