Analysis of positive solutions for a class of semipositone \(p\)-Laplacian problems with nonlinear boundary conditions (Q1733894)

The authors consider the existence and nonexistence of solutions to the singular $p$-Laplacian boundary value problem \[ -((\varphi_p(u'))' = \lambda h(t) \frac{f(u)}{u^\alpha}, \quad 0 < t < 1, p > 1, \] \[ u'(1) + c (u(1))u(1) = 0, \] \[ u(0) = 0. \] Here $\varphi(u) = |u|^{p-2}, \lambda > 0, 0 \leq \alpha < 1, c:[0, +\infty) \to [0, +\infty)$ is continuous, and $h:(0, 1) \to (0, +\infty)$ is continuous and integrable. The paper is divided into four sections. In Section 2, the authors show that under suitable conditions if $\psi$ is a subsolution and $\varphi$ is a supersolution of the boundary value problem such that $\psi \leq \varphi$ on $[0, 1]$ then the boundary value problem has at least one solution $u \in C^1[0, 1]$ such that $\psi \leq u \leq \varphi$ on $[0, 1]$. In Section 3, the authors first establish a nonexistence theorem for the boundary value problem when $\lambda \approx 0$. They then construct subsolutions and supersolutions of the boundary value problem when $\lambda \gg 1$ to establish that there exists a positive solution $u$ such that $\|u\| \to \infty$ as $\lambda \to \infty$. Finally, in Section 4, the authors show that under suitable conditions, if $\alpha = 0$ and $\lambda \gg 1$ then the boundary value problem has a unique solution.