Positive solutions for a quasilinear Schrödinger equation with critical growth (Q2429383)

This paper is concerned with positive solutions for the problem \[ -\varepsilon^p\Delta_p u+V(x) u^{p-1}=f(u)+u^{p^*-1} \quad\text{ in }R^N, \] where the potential \(V\) satisfies \(V_0:=\inf_{x\in R^N} V(x)>0\) and there exists an open bounded set \(\Lambda\subset R^N\) such that \(V_0<\min_{\partial \Lambda}V\) and \(M:=\{x\in \Lambda:V(x)=V_0\}\neq \emptyset\). The main result of the article establishes a relationship between the number of positive solutions to the above problem and the topology of the open set \(M_\delta\). More precisely, under some natural growth conditions on \(f\), the authors prove that for any \(\delta>0\) such that \(M_\delta:=\{x\in R^N:\mathrm{dist}(x,M)<\delta\}\subset \Lambda\), the above problem has at least \(\mathrm{cat}_{M_\delta}(M)\) solutions provided \(\varepsilon>0\) is small enough. The proof relies on critical point theory arguments in the framework of Ljusternik-Schnirelmann theory.