A relation between the domain topology and the number of minimal nodal solutions for a quasilinear elliptic problem (Q2483932)

The author considers the quasilinear problem \[ -\text{div}(|\nabla u|^{p-2}\nabla u)+ |u|^{p-2} u= |u|^{q-2} u\quad\text{in }\Omega, \] \[ u= 0\quad\text{on }\partial\Omega, \] where \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^N\) is a bounded smooth domain, \(1< p<N\) and \(p< q< p^*= {Np\over N-p}\). The author is interested in the solutions which change sign exactly once. Using the equivariant Lyusternik-Shnirelman category the author proves the existence of nodal solutions. The results complement those of \textit{A. Castro} and \textit{M. Clapp} [Nonlinearity 16, No. 2, 579--590 (2003; Zbl 1108.35054)] since he considers subcritical nonlinearities and the quasilinear case. Without any assumption of symmetry he also extends Theorem B in [\textit{V. Benci} and \textit{G. Cerami}, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 114, No. 1, 79--93 (1991; Zbl 0727.35055)] for the quasilinear case and prove that the topology of \(\Omega\) affects the number of positive solutions.