Weak singularities and existence of solutions to \((k,n - k)\) conjugate boundary value problems (Q1021901)

The paper is concerned with the singular \((k,n-k)\) conjugate boundary value problem \[ \begin{cases} (-1)^{n-k}x^{(n)}(t)=f(t,x(t))+c(t), &t\in(0,1),\\ x^{(i)}(0)=0, &0\leq i\leq k-1,\\ x^{(j)}(1)=0, &0\leq j\leq n-k-1 \end{cases} \] for fixed \(1\leq k\leq n-1,\) where \(c\in L^1(0,1)\) may take negative values. The nonlinearity \(f=f(t,x)\) is a Carathéodory function, bounded with respect to large \(x\) and may have at most polynomial growth \(x^{-\alpha}\; (\alpha>0)\) in the vicinity of the origin \(x=0.\) Using the corresponding Green's function, the problem is formulated as a fixed point problem on a special cone of the Banach space of continuous functions. Assuming \[ \int_0^1s^{n-k-1-k\alpha}(1-s)^{k-1-(n-k)\alpha}b(s)ds<\infty \] and \[ \inf_{t\in(0,1)}\left\{\frac{\gamma(t)}{t^k(1-t)^{n-k}}\right\}>0, \] where \(\gamma(t)=\int_0^1G(t,s)c(s)ds,\) the authors prove existence of a positive solution by means of the Schauder fixed point theorem. Further results corresponding to the cases \(c=0\) and \[ \sup_{t\in(0,1)}\left\{\frac{\gamma(t)}{t^k(1-t)^{n-k}}\right\}\leq 0 \] are provided.