Existence and nonexistence of \(G\)-least energy solutions for a nonlinear Neumann problem with critical exponent in symmetric domains (Q1290383)

Let \(B\) be the unit ball in \({\mathbb R}^N\) \((N \geq 3)\) and \(G\) a closed subgroup of \({\mathbb O}(N).\) Any element \(g \in G\) defines an action in \(H^1(B)\) by \(gu(x) = u(g^{-1}x).\) The \(G\)-invariant subspace \(H^1_G(B)\) of \(H^1(B)\) consists of all \(u \in H^1(B)\) such that \(gu = u\) for all \(g \in G.\) The problem is to minimize \[ \int_B \big(| \nabla u| ^2 + \lambda u^2 \big) dx \] \((\lambda\) a positive constant) under the constraints \[ u \in H^1_G(B), \qquad \int_B | u| ^{p+1} dx = 1 , \] \(p = (N + 2)/(N - 2)\) the critical Sobolev exponent. The author is interested in existence-nonexistence of solutions to this problem and to more general problems involving other \(G\)-invariant domains. The results depend on the number \[ k_G(B) = \min\{\#G(x); x \in \overline B \setminus \{0\}\} \] (\# = cardinal number, \(G(x)\) = orbit of \(x).\) One of the various theorems is: When \(N \geq 5\) and \(k_G(B) \geq 3\) there exists \(\lambda_0 > 0\) such that solutions exist (that is, the minimum is achieved) for \(\lambda < \lambda_0,\) but not for \(\lambda > \lambda_0.\)