The existence of positive solutions for a class of indefinite weight semilinear elliptic boundary value problems (Q1961311)

The authors consider the question of existence of positive classical solutions of the boundary value problem \[ -\Delta u=\lambda gf(u)\quad\text{in }\Omega,\quad (1-\alpha){\partial\over\partial n} u+\alpha u=0\quad\text{on }\partial\Omega, \] where \(\lambda, \alpha\in \mathbb{R}\), \(\alpha\leq 1\), and \(\Omega\) is an open region of \(\mathbb{R}^N\), \(N\geq 2\), with smooth boundary \(\partial\Omega\). The weight function \(g:\overline\Omega\to \mathbb{R}\) is also assumed to be smooth and may change sign in \(\Omega\). The issue is approached by variational methods utilizing specific properties of associated eigencurves. The paper focusses on nonlinearities \(f\) of the form \(f(u)= u(1\pm|u|^p)\). Then variational solutions obtained are compared to bifurcating solutions for these types of nonlinearities.