Lie symmetries and criticality of semilinear differential systems (Q2473450)

The so-called critical exponents appear in embedding theorems of Sobolev spaces and as numbers which divide the existence and nonexistance of solutions for various semilinear differential equations. The authors propose a general approach to this concept based on the Lie symmetries. The Euler-Lagrange system \(E(L)= 0\) for the variational integral \[ J(u)= \int_\Omega L(x,u^\alpha, u^\alpha_{(k)})\,dx\quad (x= (x_1,\dots, x_n)\in\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^n,\;\alpha= 1,\dots, m) \] is called critical if there exists an infinitesimal symmetry \[ X= \sum a_i x_i\partial/\partial x_i+ \sum b^\alpha u^\alpha\partial/\partial u^\alpha\;\Bigl((\text{prol }X)L+ L\sum a_i= 0\Bigr) \] of the variational integral, where \(a_i\), \(b^\alpha\) are constants. The definition is in full agreement with common results. Several examples as nonlinear Poisson equations, \(p\)-Laplace equations, Bauendi-Grushin and Kohn-Laplace operators, polyhamonic equations and various Hamiltonian systems are discussed.