Double-phase problems with reaction of arbitrary growth (Q1990745)

This paper deals with parametric nonlinear nonhomogeneous elliptic equations of the form \[ -\Delta_p u(z)-\Delta u(z)=\lambda f(z,u(z)) \quad\text{in }\Omega, \qquad u\big |_{\partial\Omega}=0, \] where \(\Omega \subseteq \mathbb{R}^N\) is a bounded domain with \(C^2\)-boundary \(\partial \Omega\) and \(2<p<\infty\) as well as \(\lambda>0\). For \(q \in (1,\infty)\), \(\Delta_q\) stands for the \(q\)-Laplace differential operator and the nonlinearity \(f:\Omega \times \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) is a Carathéodory function for which no global growth condition is imposed and whose behavior is prescribed only near the origin. Using truncation and comparison techniques and Morse theory, the authors show that the problem has multiple solutions in the case of high perturbations. In addition, if a symmetry condition is imposed to the right-hand side, the authors are able to generate a sequence of distinct nodal solutions with smaller and smaller energies.