\(N\)-Laplacian critical problem with discontinuous nonlinearities (Q2343376)

The paper concerns positive solutions of the \(p\)-Laplace equation in a bounded smooth domain, with \(p\) equal to the space dimension and the following semilinearity on the right-hand-side \[ \lambda \left(h (u) \exp (|u|^\frac{N}{N-1}) + \chi_{\{u \leq a\}} u^q \right), \quad q \in \left(0, \frac{N}{N-1} \right). \] The main result provides existence of a strictly positive weak solution via a mountain-pass type theorem, provided \(\lambda\) is sufficiently small and certain additional smoothness and monotonicity conditions for \(h\) are fulfilled. The difficulty with discontinuity of the semilinearity is dealt with via the Clarke's (sub)differential. The exponential part of the semilinearity is motivated by the \(N\)-dimensional Trudinger-Moser inequality, whereas the discontinuity is related to certain applications.