Multiple nontrivial solutions for nonlinear periodic problems with the \(p\)-Laplacian (Q2464480)

The authors consider a nonlinear problem of the form \[ -(| x'(t)|^{(p-2)}x'(t))' \in \partial j(t,x(t)), \] subject to the periodic boundary condition \[ x(0)=x(b), \, x'(0)=x'(b), \] where \(\partial j\) denotes the generalized subdifferential. An example of a function satisfying the assumptions is \(j(x)=(c/p) \log (| x| ^p +1)\) for \(x \leq 1\) and \(j(x)=(-1/p) | x| ^p + (c/p) \log 2 + (1/p)\) for \(x > 1\). In this formula, it is \(p>1\) and \(\mu_{2n} < c < \mu_{2n+2},\) where \(\mu_{2n}\) are the eigenvalues of the linear periodic problem associated to the given nonlinear problem. As main result it is proved that, for \(p\geq 2,\) at least three distinct nontrivial solutions \(x_0,y_0,v_0\) exist such that \(v_0(t) < 0 < x_0(t)\) for all \(t \in [0,b].\) The proof is performed by means of the degree map for multivalued perturbations of the so-called \((S)_+\) operators.