Boundary-value problems with non-surjective \(\varphi\)-Laplacian and one-sided bounded nonlinearity (Q2434032)

The paper is concerned with the existence of solutions for nonlinear boundary value problems of the form \[ (\phi(u'))' = f(t,u,u'), \qquad 0<t<T, \] under periodic, Dirichlet or Neumann conditions. It is assumed that the function \(\phi:\mathbb{R}\to (-a,a)\) is a homeomorphism, with \(\phi(0)=0\). Nonsurjective homeomorphisms of this kind are in particular motivated by the one-dimensional version of mean curvature problems or of capillary surfaces, where \[ \phi(x)=\frac x{\sqrt{1+x^2}}. \] The authors prove that in contrast with the case in which \(\phi\) is onto, the Dirichlet problem for the equation \((\phi(u'))' = f(t)\) is solvable if and only if \[ \| F_\tau\| _\infty <a\quad \text{and} \quad \int_0^T\phi^{-1}(F_\tau(s))\,ds =0 \] for some \(\tau\in [0,T]\), where \(F_\tau(t):= \int_\tau^t f(s)ds\). Using Leray-Schauder degree theory, an existence condition is obtained for the more general problem \[ (\phi(u'))' = f(t,u,u') \] where \(f\) is continuous, and satisfies \[ | f(t,u,v)| \leq c < \frac a{2T}. \] For the Neumann (N) and periodic (P) cases, under a suitable sign condition on \(f\), the following sufficient conditions for the existence are obtained \[ | f(t,u,v)| \leq c < \frac {2a}{T}, \tag{N} \] \[ | f(t,u,v)| \leq c < \frac {a}{T}.\tag{P} \] Furthermore, the authors obtain an existence result for the Neumann and periodic problems in a more difficult situation, in which the nonlinearity \(f\) is only bounded from above or from below.