The moving plane method for doubly singular elliptic equations involving a first-order term (Q2240573)

Let \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^n\), \(n\geq 2\), be smooth convex and symmetric with respect to \(\Pi_0:=\{x=(x_1,...,x_n): x_1=0\}\), let \(\Gamma\) be a closed subset of \(\Pi_0\) with zero 2-capacity with respect to \(\mathbb{R}^n\), and assume that \(\Gamma\) is a point when \(n=2\). Moreover, let \(f:\overline{\Omega}\setminus \Gamma\times (0,+\infty)\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) be a continuous function, with \(f(\cdot,t)\) symmetric with respect to \(\Pi_0\) and non-decreasing in the \(x_1\)-direction in \(\Omega\cap \{x_1<0\}\). Assume also that, for every \(\Lambda>0\) and for every compact set \(\mathcal{K}\subset \overline{\Omega}\setminus \Gamma\), there exists \(L>0\) such that \[ |f(x,s)-f(x,t)|\leq L|s-t|, \ \ \ \text{for all} \ \ x\in \mathcal{K} \ \ \text{and} \ \ s,t\in [0,\Lambda]. \] Under the above assumptions, the authors prove that every distributional solution \(u\in H_{\text{loc}}^1(\Omega\setminus \Gamma)\cap C(\overline{\Omega}\setminus\Gamma)\) of the singular boundary value problem \[ \left\{\begin{array}{ll} -\Delta u+|\nabla u|^2=u^{-\gamma}+f(x,u) \ \ \ &\text{in} \ \ \Omega \setminus \Gamma,\\ u>0 &\text{in} \ \ \Omega \setminus \Gamma,\\ u=0 &\text{on} \ \ \partial\Omega, \end{array}\right. \] is symmetric with respect to the hyperplane \(\Pi_0\) and increasing in the \(x_1\)-direction in \(\Omega\cap \{x_1<0\}\). In particular, \(\displaystyle{\frac{\partial u}{\partial x_1}}\) turns out to be positive on this set. The proof is based on an adaptation of the moving plane method recently developed in order to deal with singular solutions of semilinear equations.