Some qualitative properties of solutions of quasilinear elliptic equations and applications (Q5931931)

The authors study the nonlinear equation \[ -\text{div }a(x,u,\nabla u)=f(x,u) +g(x,u)|\nabla u|^p\quad\text{in} {\mathcal D}'(\Omega), \] \[ f(x,u)\in L^1(\Omega),\quad g(x,u)|\nabla u|^p\in L^1(\Omega),\quad u\in W^{1,p}(\Omega), \] where \(\Omega\) is an open, possibly unbounded set in \(\mathbb{R}^n,\) with sufficiently regular boundary and \(a(x,\eta,\xi)\) a Carathéodory function satisfying conditions of Leray-Lions type. There are proved two types of maximum principles for solutions in \(W^{1,p}(\Omega)\cap C(\overline\Omega)\) which are used in the study of nonexistence of solutions (including positive and spherically symmetric solutions) and existence of solutions in \(W^{1,p}_0(\Omega)\cap L^\infty(\Omega).\) The authors also deal with the control of lower (upper) bound for ess~sup (ess inf) of solutions and the applying of these results to the investigation of sign-changing solutions. There are obtained lower bounds of oscillation of solutions and derived lower bounds on constants appearing in Schauder a~priori estimate as well as in Agmond, Douglis and Nirenberg a~priori estimate. There are found some natural conditions on the right-hand side of the equation that insure existence of singularity of solutions in a given point. The paper closes with several extensions and variations of the main control result and several examples indicating that the best oscillation estimate is obtained using a family of deformation retracts of \(\Omega.\) The main techniques put to use are the method of integration on the level set \(\{u>t\}\) and the method of localization on the arbitrary given ball \(B_r(x)\) in \(\Omega.\)