Nodal solutions to semilinear elliptic equations in a ball (Q1850203)

The paper is concerned with the existence and multiplicity of radial solutions to the equation \(\Delta u+q(|x|)g(u)=0\) on the unit ball \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N\) with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. It is assumed that \(q:[0,1] \to (0,\infty)\) is continuous and \(q(r)\geq q_0>0\) for \(r\in[r_1,r_2]\subset(0,1]\). The nonlinearity \(g:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) is locally Lipschitz and has linear growth near \(0\) and \(\infty\). The main theorems yield an interval of integers \(n\) such that there exist radial solutions \(u_n, v_n\) with \(v_n(0)<0<u_n(0)\). If, for instance, \(g(u)/u\to g_0\) as \(|u|\to 0\) and \(g(u)/u\to g_\infty\) as \(|u|\to\infty\), then the range of integers \(n\) depends in an explicit way on \(g_0, g_\infty, q_0, r_1, r_2\). The proofs are based on phase plane analysis for the associated ordinary differential equation for \(v(|x|)=u(x)\). It also uses a Leray-Schauder-type continuation theorem.