Semilinear Sturm-Liouville problem with periodic nonlinearity (Q1779846)

The authors investigate the solution set of the semi-linear Sturm-Liouville boundary value problem \[ \begin{cases} -(pu')'+qu+g(u)=f \quad \text{ in } (0,\pi), \\ a_1u(0)+b_1u'(0)=0,\;a_1\leq 0, \;b_1\geq 0,\;| a_1| +b_1| \neq 0,\\ a_2u(0)+b_2u'(0)=0,\;a_2\geq 0, \;b_2 \geq 0,\;| a_2| +b_2| \neq 0, \end{cases}\tag{E1} \] where \(p \in C^2[0,\pi]\) and positive, \(q\in C^1[0,\pi],\) \(f\in C[0,\pi]\) and \(g\) is a nontrivial periodic function satisfying \[ g\in C(\mathbb R,\mathbb R) \text{ is periodic of period } 2\pi \text{ and } \int_0^{2\pi}g(s)\,ds=0. \tag{G1} \] Let \(\phi(x)\) denote the normalized solution of the linear BVP (i.e., \(f=0\) and \(g=0\) in (E1)) corresponding to the BVP (E1). Then Theorem A. Assume that there exist \(0\leq t_1<t_2<\cdots <t_k\leq \pi\) such that \(\phi'(t_i)=0,\) \(\phi''(t_i)\neq0 \) and \(\phi(t)\neq 0\) for all \(t\in[0,\pi] \setminus\{t_1,t_2,\cdots,t_k\}.\) Suppose also that \[ \exists \; j\in\; \{1,2,\dots,k\} \text{ such that } | \phi(t_i)| \neq | \phi(t_j)|\;\forall i\neq j, \tag{H} \] and \(g\) satisfies (G1) and \[ \left\{\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_0^{2\pi}| g(s+\theta)-g(s)| ^p\,ds\right\}^{1/p}=O(| \theta| ^\vartheta) \tag{G2} \] for some \(p\geq 1\) and \(\vartheta \geq 1/2.\) Then (i) if \(\int_0^\pi f\phi =0\), then the set of solutions of (E1) is unbounded in \(C[0,\pi],\) (ii) for any \(m\in \mathbb N\) and \(\tilde f\in C[0,\pi]\) with \(\int_0^\pi \tilde f \phi=0,\) there is a positive number \(\varepsilon_m\) such that (E1) admits at least \(m\) solution provided \(f=\tilde f+a\phi\) with \(| a| < \varepsilon_m.\) An alternative version of Theorem A with condition (H) dropped is also provided in the paper.