Multiple single-peaked solutions of a class of semilinear Neumann problems via the category of the domain boundary (Q1271829)

The main theorem of the paper establishes existence of multiple positive solutions to the semilinear Neumann problem \[ -\lambda\Delta u+ u=f(u)\quad\text{in }\Omega,\quad \nu\cdot\nabla u|_{\partial\Omega}= 0\tag{1} \] in a (possibly unbounded) domain \(\Omega\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), \(n\geq 2\), with smooth compact boundary. In (1), \(\lambda\) is a small positive parameter, \(\nu\) denotes a unit normal vector to \(\partial\Omega\), \(f\in C^1(\mathbb{R},\mathbb{R})\cap C^2(\mathbb{R}\setminus\{0\})\), \(f\) has support \(\mathbb{R}_+\), \(\int^a_0f>0\) for some \(a>0\), and \(f\) has subcritical superlinear growth. As usual, \(\text{Cat}(\partial\Omega)\) denotes the Lyusternik-Schnirel'man category of the boundary. Main Theorem: Under these hypotheses, (1) has at least \(\text{Cat}(\partial\Omega)\) distinct nonconstant positive solutions \(u\in C^2(\overline\Omega)\) provided \(\lambda\) is sufficiently small. Furthermore, each such solution has a single maximum point \(x_0\) and \(x_0\in \partial\Omega\). The constrained variational approach employs a restriction of the free functional for (1) to a suitable submanifold of the Sobolev space \(H^1(\Omega)\). The basic idea of the proof is, for small enough \(\lambda>0\), to relate homotopy properties of a sublevel set for the restricted functional to the topology of \(\partial\Omega\). The presentation involves 26 preliminary lemmas or propositions. Related results have been obtained by \textit{C.-S. Lin}, \textit{W.-M. Ni} and \textit{I. Takagi} [J. Differ. Equations 72, No. 1, 1-27 (1988; Zbl 0676.35030)], \textit{Z.-Q. Wang} [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 120, No. 4, 375-399 (1992; Zbl 0784.35035)], \textit{W.-M. Ni} and \textit{I. Takagi} [Duke Math. J. 70, No. 2, 247-281 (1993; Zbl 0796.35056)].