On a class of parametric Neumann problems with indefinite and unbounded potential (Q2343368)

This paper deals the following semilinear elliptic Neumann problem: \[ \begin{cases} -\Delta u(z)+\beta(z)u(z)=\lambda u(z)-f(z,u(z))\quad \text{in}\;\Omega,\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial n}=0\quad \text{on}\;\partial\Omega, \end{cases} \eqno{(P_\lambda)} \] where \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^N\) (with \(N\geq 3\)) is a bounded domain with \(C^2\)- boundary, \(\beta:\Omega \rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is a measurable potential which is allowed to be sign-changing and unbounded below, \(\lambda>0\) is a parameter, \(f:\Omega \times \mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is a Carathéodory function with subcritical and superlinear growth at \(\pm \infty\) in the second variable (uniformly w.r.t. the first one) and satisfying \(f(z,0)=0\) a.e. in \(\Omega\), and \(n\) is the outward unit normal on \(\partial \Omega\). The following further conditions are also assumed: {\parindent=0,7cm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] \(\beta \in L^r(\Omega)\) for some \(r>N\), and \(\beta^+\in L^\infty(\Omega)\); \item[(2)] \(\lambda>\hat{\lambda}_2\), where \(\hat{\lambda}_2\) is the second eigenvalue of the linear problem \[ -\Delta u(z)+\beta(z)u(z)=\lambda u(z)\quad \text{in}\;\Omega,\qquad \frac{\partial u}{\partial n}=0\quad \text{on}\;\partial\Omega; \] \item[(3)] \(\lim_{x\rightarrow 0}\frac{f(z,x)}{x}=0\), uniformly w.r.t. \(z\in \Omega\). \end{itemize}} The authors prove the following two multiplicity results: {\parindent=0,7cm \begin{itemize}\item[--] assume, in addiction to \((1)\), \((2)\) and \((3)\), that for each \(\rho>0\), there exists \(\xi_\rho>0\) such that \(x\rightarrow \xi_\rho x-f(z,x)\) is nondecreasing in \([-\rho,\rho]\), for a.a. \(z\in \Omega\). Then, there exist at least three solutions \(u_0,v_0,y_0\in C^1(\overline{\Omega})\) to problem \((P_\lambda)\) such that \(u_0,-v_0\) belong the interior of the positive cone of \(C^1(\overline{\Omega})\) and \(y_0\) is sign-changing and satisfying \(v_0(z)<y_0(z)<u_0(z)\) in \(\Omega\). \item[--] assume, in addiction to \((1)\), \((2)\) and \((3)\), that \(f(z,x)x\geq 0\), \(f(z,\cdot)\in C^1(\mathbb{R})\), with \(f'_x(z,0)=0\) and \(|f'_x(z,x)|\leq \alpha(z)+c|x|^{s-2}\), where \(\alpha \in L^\infty(\Omega)\), \(c>0\) and \(s\) is less than the critical exponent \(2N/(N-2)\), for a.a. \(z\in \Omega\), and for all \(x\in \mathbb{R}\). Then, there exist at least five solutions \(u_0,v_0,y_0,\hat{y},\bar{y}\in C^1(\overline{\Omega})\) to problem \((P_\lambda)\) such that \(u_0,-v_0\) belong the interior of the positive cone of \(C^1(\overline{\Omega})\), \(y_0,\hat{y},\bar{y}\) are sign-changing, and \(y_0,\hat{y}\) satisfy \(y_0,\hat{y}\in \text{int}_{C^1(\overline{\Omega})}[v_0,u_0]\). \end{itemize}} The key ingredients of the proofs are the critical point theory, truncation and comparison arguments, the Morse index and invariance sets of descent flows.