Sandwich pairs in \(p\)-Laplacian problems (Q2466981)

In this paper the authors study the solvability of \(p\)-Laplacian problems via the so-called sandwich pairs. A sandwich pair is a pair of subsets \(A, B\) of the Banach space \(W\) that, for any functional \(\Phi\in C^1(W,\mathbb R)\) such that \[ -\infty<b:=\inf_B\Phi\leq \sup_A\Phi =: a<\infty, \] it implies that there is a sequence \((u_j)\subset W\) with the properties \[ \Phi(u_j)\to c,\qquad \Phi'(u_j)\to 0, \] for some \(c\in [b,a]\). In the work, the notion of sandwich pairs was used to solve semilinear problems, and the construction of those pairs was based on the eigenspaces of the Laplacian (cf. with [\textit{M. Schechter}, Ann. Pol. Math. 57, No. 3, 269--281 (1992; Zbl 0780.35001); \textit{E. A. de B.e Silva}, Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl. 16, No. 5, 455--477 (1991; Zbl 0731.35042)]). In the paper under review, the authors are able to construct new sandwich pairs tailor-made for the \(p\)-Laplacian and apply them to problems of the form \[ \begin{cases} -\Delta_p u = f(x,u) & \text{in }\Omega,\\ u=0 & \text{on }\partial\Omega,\end{cases} \] under some nonresonant condition on the source \(f\).