The Hardy-Schrödinger operator with interior singularity: the remaining cases (Q1674637)

In this article, an open problem is settled. Precisely, the existence of energy minimizing solutions for the Dirichlet problem of the form \(L_\gamma u-\lambda u=\frac{u^{2^{\ast}(s)-1}}{|x|^s}\) on a smooth and bounded domain \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^n\) with \(n\geq 3\) having a singularity 0 in its interior is considered. It is assumed that \(\gamma<\frac{(n-2)^2}{4}\), \(0\leq s<2\), \(2^{\ast}(s)=\frac{2(n-s)}{n-2}\), and \(0\leq \lambda <\lambda_1(L_\gamma)\) where \(\lambda_1(L_\gamma)\) denotes the first eigenvalue of the Hardy-Schröder operator \(L_\gamma=-\Delta -\frac{\gamma}{|x|^2}\). It is shown that there is a threshold \(\lambda^\ast (\gamma,\Omega)\geq 0\) beyond which the minimal energy is attained, but below this threshold, it is not the case. As it is well-known, the threshold is zero in higher dimensions provided \(0\leq \gamma\leq \frac{(n-2)^2}{4}-1\). The authors show that this threshold is strictly positive in lower dimensions. Precisely, if \(\frac{(n-2)^2}{4}-1<\gamma<\frac{(n-2)^2}{4}\). They identify the critical dimensions and characterize it in terms of the domain \(\Omega\) and the parameter \(\gamma\). In the case of \(s>0\) or \(\gamma>0\) (the truly singular case), it is shown that a solution is guaranteed by the positivity of the Hardy-singular internal mass of \(\Omega\) provided a low dimension is assumed. The case \(\gamma=s=0\) has been studied by Brezis and Nirenberg and finalized by Druet. The authors show that in this case, \(n=3\) is the critical dimension. The classical positive mass theorem is sufficient for the merely singular case (\(s=0\), \(\gamma\leq 0\)).