Variational methods for nonlinear eigenvalue inequalities (Q1174358)

The eigenvalue inequality of the type \((\ast)\;\langle{\mathcal A}(u)- \lambda{\mathcal B}(u),v-u\rangle+\psi(v)-\psi(u)\geq 0\) for \(v\in{\mathfrak A}\) is considered, where \({\mathfrak A}\) is a linear normed space, \({\mathcal A},{\mathcal B}:{\mathfrak A}\to{\mathfrak A}^*\) are respectively gradients of Fréchet differentiable functionals \(F,G\) on \({\mathfrak A}\) and \(\psi:{\mathfrak A}\to\overline\mathbb{R}\) is a proper, convex, extended real functional, e.g. the indicator of a closed convex set in \({\mathfrak A}.\) The main theorem states the following: If \(F+\psi\) achieves its minimum restricted to the set \(\partial G_ R=\{v\in{\mathfrak A}:G(v)={\mathcal R}\}\) at \(u\in\partial G_ R\) and if there exist \(v\) and \(w\in D(\psi)\) such that \(\langle{\mathcal B}(u),v-u\rangle>0\) and \(\langle{\mathcal B}(u),w- u\rangle<0\), \((\ast)\) has at least one solution \([u,\lambda]\) with \(u\neq 0\). An application to a problem associated with the pseudo-Laplacian operator is given.