On the spectrum of the weighted \(p\)-biharmonic operator with weight (Q2460793)

This work is concerned with the eigenvalue problem with Navier boundary condition \[ \begin{cases}\Delta(\rho|\Delta u|^{p-2}\Delta u)=\lambda m|u|^{p-2}u, &\quad\text{in } \Omega,\\ u=\Delta u=0,&\text{on }\partial \Omega,\end{cases} \] where \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N\) (\(N\geq 1\)) is a smooth domain, \(m\in L^{\infty}(\Omega)\), \(\rho\in C(\overline{\Omega})\), \(\rho>0\), \(p\in (1,+\infty)\) and \(\lambda>0\). Using the transformation of the Poisson problem used by \textit{P. Drábek} and \textit{M. Ôtani} [Electron. J. Differ. Equ. 2001, Paper No. 48, 19 p., electronic only (2001; Zbl 0983.35099)] and the Ljusternik-Schnirelmann theory, the authors give a non-decreasing sequence of positive eigenvalues \((\lambda_n)_{n\geq 1}\) such that \(\lambda_n\to +\infty\), and they verify that \(\lambda_1\) is the first positive eigenvalue. If \(m\geq 0\) a.e. in \(\Omega\), it is proved that \(\lambda_1\) is simple and associated with a positive or negative eigenfunction. Moreover, if \(m\in C(\overline{\Omega})\) then \(\lambda_1\) is isolated and all positive eigenfunctions are associated with \(\lambda_1\). In the case \(N=1\), \(m\in C([0,1])\) and \(m>0\), the authors show that every eigenvalue of the above problem is simple and every eigenfunction has a finite number of zeros all simple in \((0,1)\).