Some stability properties for minimal solutions of \(-\Delta u=\lambda g(u)\). (Q1871548)

Let \(\Omega\subset \mathbb R^N\) be a smooth bounded domain, and let \(g:[0,\infty)\to (0,\infty)\) be a \(C^1\), increasing function. It is well known that there exists \(\lambda^*\in (0,\infty)\) such that for \(0<\lambda<\lambda^*\) there is a minimal solution of the boundary value problem: \(-\Delta u=\lambda g(u)\) in \(\Omega\), \(u=0\) on \(\partial\Omega\). The authors prove the following result: if \((u_\lambda)_{0<\lambda<\lambda^*}\) is the maximal branch and \(\lambda\in (0,\lambda^*)\) then the following properties are equivalent. (i) the first eigenvalue \(\lambda_1(-\Delta-\lambda g'(u_\lambda))\) is positive; (ii) the mapping \(\mu\to u_\mu\) is \(C^1\) from a neighborhood of \(\lambda\) to \(L^\infty(\Omega)\); (iii) \(\int_\Omega| u_\lambda-u_\mu| d_\Omega(x)dx=o(| \lambda-\mu| )\) as \(\mu\to\lambda\), where \(d_\Omega(x)\) is the distance from \(x\) to \(\partial\Omega\). Furthermore, they show that in dimension \(N=1\) and \(N=2\), discontinuities in the branch of minimal solutions can be produced by arbitrarily small perturbations of the nonlinearity \(g\). In dimension \(N\geq 3\), discontinuities can be produced for a large enough perturbation of \(g\). A one dimensional example as well as the three dimensional case in a ball are discussed in detail.