Nonlinear scalar field equations with general nonlinearity (Q2280385)

This paper is concerned with the existence and multiplicity of positive ground state solutions \(u\in H^1(\mathbb{R}^N)\) for \(-\Delta u=f(u)\) in \(\mathbb{R}^N\), \(N\geq 3\), where \(f:\mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) is a continuous and odd function such that: (a) \(-\infty<\liminf_{t\to 0}\frac{f(t)}{t}\leq \limsup_{t\to 0}\frac{f(t)}{t}<0\); (b) \(\lim_{t\to \infty}\frac{f(t)}{t^{(N+2)/(N-2)}}=0\); (c) there exists \(\zeta>0\) such that \(F(\zeta)>0\), where \(F(t)=\int_0^t f(s)ds\). The approach relies on an extended symmetric mountain pass result and on a new decomposition result for bounded Palais-Smale sequences.