\(S\)-shaped connected component for nonlinear fourth-order problem of elastic beam equation (Q2405885)

Summary: We investigate the existence of an \(S\)-shaped connected component in the set of positive solutions of the fourth-order boundary value problem: \[ \begin{aligned} u^{\prime \prime \prime \prime} (x) &= \lambda h(x)f(u(x)), \quad x \in(0,1), \quad \\ u(0) &= u(1) = u^{\prime \prime} (0) = u^{\prime \prime} (1) = 0,\end{aligned} \] where \(\lambda > 0\) is a parameter, \(h\in C[0,1]\), and \(f\in C[0,\infty)\) with \(f_0 := \lim_{s \rightarrow 0}(f(s)/s)=\infty\). We develop a bifurcation approach to deal with this extreme situation by constructing a sequence of functions \(f^{[n]}\) satisfying \(f^{[n]} \rightarrow f\) and \((f^{[n]})_0 \rightarrow \infty\). By studying auxiliary problems, we get a sequence of unbounded connected components \(\mathcal{C}^{[n]}\), and, then, we find an unbounded connected component \(\mathcal{C}\) in the set of positive solutions of the fourth-order boundary value problem which satisfies \((0,0)\in \mathcal{C} \subset \limsup \mathcal{C}^{[n]}\) and is \(S\)-shaped.