\(p(x)\)-biharmonic operator involving the \(p(x)\)-Hardy inequality (Q2187407)

Let \(\Omega\) be a bounded domain in \(\mathbb R^N\). Let \(\delta(x)=dist (x,\partial \Omega)\) and let \( p(\cdot)\in C(\overline{\Omega})\) be a function such that \(1< p(x)<\frac{N}{2}\). The following nonlinear eigenvalue problem is considered \[ \Delta (|\Delta u|^{p(x)-2}\Delta u)=\lambda \frac{|u|^{p(x)-2}u}{\delta(x)^{2p(x)}}\quad \text{in} \quad \Omega, \] where \(u\in W_0^{2,p(x)}(\Omega )\). The existence of a non-decreasing sequence of nonnegative eigenvalues of this problem such that \(\sup \Lambda= \infty\) is established, where \(\Lambda\) is the set of all eigenvalues. It is proved that \(\inf \Lambda > 0\) when the \(p(x)\)-Hardy inequality holds, as a characterization of the positivity of the principal eigenvalue of the problem. For \(p\) constant, see the same authors's paper [Appl. Math. 41, No. 2--3, 239--246 (2014; Zbl 1304.35466)].