Asymptotic behaviour of solutions of semi-linear elliptic equations in \({\mathbb{R}}^ n\) (Q1089497)

Let u be a classical solution of the semilinear problem (*) \(\Delta u+f(u)=0\) in \(\Omega\), \(u\to 0\) as \(| x| \to \infty\), where \(\Omega\) is the complement of some closed ball in \(R^ n\) and f is continuous, \(f(0)=0\), and \(f(u)=o(| u|)\) as \(u\to 0\). The author develops a comparison result for solutions of semilinear equations as above which then leads to a bound of the form \(| u(x)| \leq c | x|^{2-n},\) as \(| x| \to \infty\) when f is quasi- decreasing, i.e., f(u)\(\geq 0\) for \(u\in (-\gamma,0)\) and f(u)\(\leq 0\) for \(u\in (0,\gamma)\). Additional asymptotic results are obtained when the quasi-decreasing function f satisfies a weak nonlinearity, strong nonlinearity, or critical nonlinearity condition. Some of these results utilize the work of \textit{L. Veron} [Ann. Mat. Pura Appl., IV. Ser. 127, 23-50 (1981; Zbl 0467.35013)].