Eigenvalues of higher order Sturm-Liouville boundary value problems with derivatives in nonlinear terms (Q2263531)

The paper studies the nonlinear higher order Sturm-Liouville equation \[ y^{(m)}(t) + \lambda F(t, y(t), y'(t), \dots, y^{(q)}(t)) =0 \; (t \in (0,1)) \] subject to the boundary conditions \[ 0 = y(0) = y'(0) = \dots = y^{(m-3)}(0) = \zeta y^{(m-2)}(0) - \theta y^{(m-1)}(0) = \rho y^{(m-2)}(1) + \delta y^{(m-1)} \] where \(m \geq 3, \; 1 \leq q \leq m-2\) and \(\lambda > 0\). In contrast to most of the related problems studied in the literature, here also derivatives may appear in the nonlinear term. The main focus of the paper is on the investigation of the set \(E\) of all eigenvalues, i.e., of all \(\lambda > 0\) allowing a nontrivial nonnegative solution \(y \in C^{(m)}(0,1) \cap C^{(m-1)}[0,1]\). A number of conditions are presented which garantee that \(E\) is or at least includes a (open, half closed or infinite) interval. In particular, using the Krasnosel'skii fixed point theorem in a cone, estimates on subintervals of \(E\) are obtained. The author of the paper stresses the fact that the presented conditions and techniques are different to previously known conditions and techniques for related problems. Applications to explicit examples illustrate the results.