Oscillation theorems for elliptic equations with damping (Q1886559)

The paper concerns the problem of oscillation for the nonlinear second order elliptic differential equation \(D_j(A_{ij}D_iy)+b_iD_iy+p(x)f(y)=0\) in an exterior domain \(\Omega\subset \mathbb R^d\). A proper (non constant) solution \(y=y(x)\) of this equation is called oscillatory if the set \(\{x\in\Omega: y(x)=0\}\) is unbounded; otherwise it is called non oscillatory. The equation is oscillatory if all its proper solutions are oscillatory. The matrix \([A_{ij}]\) is assumed to be smooth, real symmetric and positive definite. The functions \(p(x)\), \(b_i=b_i(x)\) and \(f\) are smooth and \(f\) is increasing and satisfying \(y f(y)>0\) for \(y\not=0\). The authors give sufficient conditions on the coefficients of the equation in order to have oscillation. To prove the main result they use an appropriate generalized Riccati transformation. Examples and remarks illustrate the relevance of the theorems.