Nonlinear elliptic equations with variable exponent: old and new (Q2349496)

This survey paper is motivated by phenomena which are described by nonlinear elliptic boundary value problems of the type \[ \begin{cases} -\operatorname{div}(A(x,\nabla u)) = f(x,u)\quad &\text{for }x\in\Omega, \\ u=0\quad &\text{for }x\in\partial\Omega,\end{cases} \eqno{(1.1)} \] where \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^N (N > 3)\) is a bounded or an exterior domain with smooth boundary. Using variational methods authors are concerned with the qualitative analysis of solutions to (1.1). This paper is divided into several sections. Section 3 contains a multiplicity result for a class of Dirichlet problems involving a general nonhomogeneous differential operator with right hand side \(f(x,u)=\lambda(u^{\gamma-1}-u^{\beta-1})\) where \(1<\beta<\gamma<\inf_{x\in\overline{\Omega}} p(x)\), \(p\) is a real-valued function and \(u\geq 0\) for \(x\in\Omega\). Section 4 deals with the existence of a continuous spectrum for a differential operator with two variable exponents: \[ \begin{cases}\operatorname{div}((|\nabla u|^{p_1(x)-2}+|\nabla u|^{p_2(x)-2})\nabla u) = \lambda| u|^{q(x)-2}u\quad &\text{for }x\in\Omega, \\ u=0\quad &\text{for } x\in\partial\Omega.\end{cases} \eqno{(4.2)} \] The result of Section 4 is extended to following classes of nonlinear equations \[ \begin{cases} -\operatorname{div}(| \nabla u|^{p(x)-2}\nabla u) +| u|^{p(x)-2}u +| u|^{q(x)-2}u= \lambda g(x)| u|^{r(x)-2} u,\quad &\text{for }x\in\Omega\\ u=0, \quad &\text{for } x\in\partial\Omega\end{cases}\eqno{(5.1)} \] and a concentration property at infinity of the spectrum is established on exterior domains. The case of multiple variable exponents and sign-changing potential is considered in Section 6 of the paper. The author investigates the problem \[ \begin{cases}-\operatorname{div}((| \nabla u|^{p_1(x)-2}+| \nabla u|^{p_2(x)-2})\nabla u) +V(x)| u|^{m(x)-2}u\\ \qquad\qquad =\lambda(| u|^{q_1(x)-2}+| u|^{q_2(x)-2}) u,\quad &x\in\Omega \\ u=0,\quad &x\in\partial\Omega.\end{cases}\eqno{(6.1)} \] In the next section, by using the Morse theory in combination with local linking theory, author establishes several existence results for the problem: \[ \begin{cases}-\Delta_{p(x)}u+| u|^{p(x)-2}u := f(x,u)\quad &\text{in } \Omega,\\ u=0\quad &\text{on } \partial\Omega.\end{cases} \eqno{(7.1)} \] Let \(\Delta u(k) = u(k+1)-u(k)\) be the difference operator and \[ \Delta^2_{p(k-1)}u(k-1) = | \Delta u(k)| ^{p(k)-2}\Delta u(k)-| \Delta u(k-1)|^{p(k-1)-2} \Delta u(k-1), \eqno{(8.1)} \] for all \(k \in \mathbb Z\). Section 8 is devoted to the study of the difference non-homogeneous equations of type \[ \begin{cases}\Delta^2_{p(k-1)}u(k-1)-V(k)| u(k)|^{q(k)-2} u(k)+ f (k, u(k))=0\quad &\text{for }k\in\mathbb Z,\\ u(k)\to 0,\quad &\text{as }| k| \to\infty.\end{cases}\eqno{(8.2)} \] Finally, the goal of this section is to establish the existence of nontrivial homoclinic solutions for problem (8.2).