Nodal solutions for Laplace equations with critical Sobolev and Hardy exponents on \(\mathbb R^N\) (Q2471000)

For \(\Omega\) being a bounded smooth domain in \({\mathbb R}^n\), \(n \geq 3\), and \(p = (n+2)/(n-2)\), the embedding \(H^1(\Omega) \hookrightarrow L^{p+1}(\Omega)\) is not compact. This originally led by \textit{H. Brezis} and \textit{L. Nirenberg} [Commun. Pure. Appl. Math. 36, 437--477 (1983; Zbl 0541.35029)] to consider problems of the type \[ -\Delta u - \lambda u = u^{(n+2)/(n-2)}, \qquad u > 0 \text{ in } \Omega, \qquad u = 0 \text{ on } \partial\Omega, \] with \(\lambda > 0\) being a perturbation parameter. For \(\lambda = 0\) this problem lacks solutions in star-shaped domains, moreover they showed that when \(\lambda\) is smaller than the first eigenvalue of \(-\Delta\) there exists solutions in dimensions \(n \geq 4\). Those results were extended by \textit{G. Cerami, S. Solimini} and \textit{M. Struwe} [J. Funct. Anal. 69, 289--306 (1986; Zbl 0614.35035)], who found pairs of radial solutions with common nodes (zeros) in higher dimensions. The paper under review deals with an extension of the above problem in all \({\mathbb R}^n\), namely \[ -\Delta u + u - \mu \frac{u}{| x| ^2} = | u| ^{2^*-2} u + f(u), \qquad 2^* = \frac{2n}{n-2}, \] where \(\mu\) is a nonnegative parameter, and \(f \in C^2({\mathbb R})\) satisfies some assumptions. Under a smallness condition on \(\mu\) the authors prove existence of nontrivial solutions in dimensions \(n \geq 4\). With additional assumptions on \(f\) and for \(n \geq 6\), it is furthermore shown that, for any nonnegative integer \(k\), there exists a pair of solutions, one positive and one negative at the origin, possessing exactly \(k\) (common) nodes. All solutions found in this article are radial functions in \(H^1({\mathbb R}^n)\). The techniques used are based on variational methods developed in the above-mentioned papers.