Non-singular solutions of \(p\)-Laplace problems, allowing multiple changes of sign in the nonlinearity (Q2127569)

This paper is about the boundary value problem \[ \varphi(u'(x))'+f(u(x))=0,\;\;x\in(-1,1),\] \[u(-1)=u(0)=0 \] with \(p\)-Laplacian \(\varphi(t)=t|t|^{p-2},\;p>1.\) Under the assumptions that \(f(u)\in C^1(\overline{\mathbb{R}}_+)\) and there exists a \(\gamma>0\) such that \(f(\gamma)=0, f(u)>0\) on \((\gamma, \infty)\), \[ f'(u)>(p-1)\frac{f(u)}{u}\;\mbox{for}\;u>\gamma, \] \[ \int_u^\gamma f(t)dt<0\;\mbox{for}\;u\in(0,\gamma), \] the main result asserts that any positive solution of the considered problem, satisfying \(u(0)>\gamma\) and \(u'(1)<0,\) is non-singular, i.e. the linearized problem \[ (\varphi'(u'(x))w'(x))'+f'(u(x))w(x)=0,\;\;x\in(-1,1), \] \[ w(-1)=w(0)=0, \] admits only the trivial solution \(w(x)\equiv0.\) Under the same assumptions another result treats the \(\lambda\)-parametric problem \[ \varphi(u'(x))'+\lambda f(u(x))=0,\;\;x\in(-1,1), \] \[ u(-1)=u(0)=0, \] \(\lambda>0.\) Depending on \(\lambda\) it guarantees a unique positive solution.