Singular limits for a 4-dimensional semilinear elliptic problem with exponential nonlinearity (Q2475795)

Let \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^4\) be a bounded open set with smooth boundary. The authors are concerned with the study of positive solutions to the nonlinear Dirichlet problem \(\Delta^2u=\rho^4e^u\) in \(\Omega\), \(u=\Delta u=0\) on \(\partial\Omega\). The main results established in this paper concern the following topics: (i) a description of rotationally symmetric solutions; (ii) a study of the linearized operator about radially symmetric solutions; (iii) the existence of an infinite dimensional family of solutions that are defined on large balls and that are close to rotationally symmetric solutions; and (iv) the existence of an infinite dimensional family of solutions that are defined on \(\Omega\) with small balls removed. The proofs combine the qualitative analysis of the bi-Laplace operator in weighted spaces with refined elliptic estimates.