Positive solutions for some generalized \(p \)-Laplacian type problems (Q2182833)

The authors investigate the existence of nontrivial nonnegative solutions to the following problem: \[ \begin{cases} -\operatorname{div} (a(x,u,\nabla u))+A_t(x,u,\nabla u) = f(x,u) & \text{in } \Omega,\\ u=0 & \text{on } \partial\Omega, \end{cases}\tag{GP} \] where \(\Omega\) is an open bounded domain of \(\mathbb{R}^N\) (\(N\geq 3\)); \(A(x,t,\xi)\) is a \(C^1\) Carathéodory function on \(\Omega\times\mathbb{R}\times \mathbb{R}^N,\) with \(A_t = \frac{\partial A}{\partial t}\), \(a = \nabla_\xi A\); and \(f(x,t)\) is a given Carathéodory function on \(\Omega\times\mathbb{R}\). The existence and multiplicity of solutions for problem (GP) have been studied under different growth assumptions via variational methods in previous works, for example, [the first author and \textit{G. Palmieri}, Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 34, No. 4, 495--530 (2009; Zbl 1160.49007)] for \(f(x,t)\) having a subcritical growth and [the first author et al., ``Multiple solutions for some symmetric supercritical problems'', Commun. Contemp. Math. (to appear), \url{doi:10.1142/S0219199719500755}] for \(f(x,t)\) having a supercritical growth. In the present work, the authors slightly modify arguments used by the first author et al. in [loc. cit.] to derive the existence of a nontrivial nonnegative solution to problem (GP). The authors also show that, under stronger assumptions, the aforementioned nonnegative solution is actually positive in \(\Omega\) by applying a Harnack type inequality for weak solutions of \(p\)-Laplacian type equations.