Positive radial symmetric solutions to an exterior elliptic Robin boundary-value problem and application (Q1030086)

The following boundary value problem \[ \begin{cases} - \Delta u = \hat{H}(x)f(u) \quad \text{in}\;\Omega, \\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial n} + au = \gamma \quad \text{on}\;\partial\Omega, \\ u(x) \to 0 \quad \text{as}\;|x| \to \infty \end{cases} \] is considered, where \(\Omega = \{ x \in {\mathbb R}^n : |x| > r_0 > 0 \}\), \(n \geq 3\), \(a>0\), \(\gamma \leq 0\), \(f\) is continuous, positive and decreasing on \([0,\infty)\), \(\hat{H}\): \(\overline{\Omega} \to (0,\infty)\) is continuous, bounded, radial symmetric, and \(\int_\Omega \hat{H}(x) |x|^{-1} dx < \infty\). The main result is as follows: For \(a<(n-2)r_0^{-1}\) there exists a unique positive radial symmetric solution: If \(a \geq (n-2)r_0^{-1}\), then there is no such solution. An application to the Hamiltonian constraint equation in general relativity is also given.