Multiple positive solutions for a critical quasilinear equation via Morse theory (Q1012353)

The paper is concerned with the problem \[ \begin{cases} -\Delta_p u=\lambda u^{q-1}+ u^{p^*-1}\quad&\text{in }\Omega, \\ u>0&\text{in }\Omega,\\ u=0&\text{on }\partial\Omega, \end{cases}\tag{\(*\)} \] where \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N\) is a smooth bounded domain, \(1<p\leq q<p^*=\frac{Np}{N-p}\), \(p^2\leq N\), \(\lambda>0\), is a parameter. For topological spaces \(B\subset A\) let \(P_1(A,B)=\sum^\infty_{k=0}\dim H_k(A,B)\) be the sum of the Betti numbers of \((A,B)\) in singular homology with coeffictients in a field. Let \(I_\lambda:W^{1,p}(\Omega)\to\mathbb{R}\) be the \(C^1\)-functional associated to (\(*\)). The authors show that for \(\lambda>0\) close to \(0\), (\(*\)) has at least \(P_1(\Omega)\) solutions counted with multiplicities. The multiplicity of a solution \(u\) is by definition \(P_1(I^e_\lambda, I^e_\lambda\setminus \{u\})\) where \(c=I_\lambda|u)\). For \(p\geq 2\) and \(\lambda>0\) small, they also show that (\(*\)) can be perturbed so that the perturbed problem has at least \(P_1(\Omega)\) distinct solutions.