On a nonlinear and non-homogeneous problem without (A-R) type condition in Orlicz-Sobolev spaces (Q2451380)

In this paper the following nonlinear equation is studied \[ \begin{cases} \displaystyle -\text{div}(a(|\nabla u|)\nabla u) =f(x,u) & \text{ in }\Omega, \\ u=0 & \text{ on } \partial \Omega. \end{cases} \] Here \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in \(\mathbb{R}^N\) (\(N\geq 3\)), \(f: \overline{\Omega}\times \mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is a continuous function, and \(a:(0,\infty)\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is such that the function \(\varphi\) defined by \[ \varphi(t)=\begin{cases} a(|t|)t & \text{ if } t\neq 0,\\ 0 & \text{ if } t=0 \end{cases} \] is an odd increasing homeomorphism from \(\mathbb{R}\) onto \(\mathbb{R}\). Under a set of growth conditions on \(\varphi\) and \(f\) and using variational methods, the authors are able to prove existence and multiplicity results on the weak solutions of the above equation in Orlicz-Sobolev spaces. The Ambrosetti-Rabinowitz type condition typically imposed on the nonlinearity for this kind of problems is not required.