On a Ermakov-Painlevé II reduction in three-ion electrodiffusion. A Dirichlet boundary value problem (Q2260723)

This is an interesting paper which deals with the investigation of a class of two-point boundary value problems concerning the Ermakov-Painlevé II type equation \[ \mu_{xx}=a\mu^3+bx\mu+\frac{c}{\mu^3},\quad 0<x<1, \] associated with the Dirichlet boundary conditions \[ \mu(0)=\mu_0,\quad \mu(1)=\mu_1, \] where \(\mu_0, \mu_1\) are real non-negative reals. The authors present conditions for the existence of at least one solution, when \(a, c>0\), \(\mu_0\), \(\mu_1>0\), (Theorem 1.1), and \(a\leq 0\), \(c<0\) \(\mu_0\), \(\mu_1>0\), (Theorem 1.4), of infinity many positive solutions, when \(a<0<c\), \(\mu_0\), \(\mu_1>0\), (Theorem 1.2), of at least one positive solution, when \(a>0>c\), \(\mu_0\), \(\mu_1>0\), (Theorem 1.3) and of at least one solution \(\mu\) such that \(\mu(x)>0\), \(0<x<1\), when \(a>0>c\), \(\mu_0=\mu_1=0\), (Theorem 1.5). In an appendix, the authors discuss the case of a particular three-component Ermakov-Ray-Reid system, which can be examined by using Ermakov invariants.