Nodal solutions for second-order \(m\)-point boundary value problems with nonlinearities across several eigenvalues (Q2492454)

We study the existence of nodal solutions of the m-point boundary value problem \[ u''+f(u)=0,\quad 0<t<1, \quad u(0)=0,\quad u(1)=\sum^{m-2}_{i=1}\alpha_iu(\eta_i), \] where \(\eta_i\in\mathbb Q\), \(i=1,2,\dots ,m-2\), with \(0<\eta_1<\eta_2<\cdots <\eta_{m-2}<1\), and \(\alpha_i\in \mathbb R\), \(i=1,2,\dots,m-2\), with \(\alpha_i>0\) and \(0<\sum^{m-2}_{i=1}\alpha_i\leq 1\). We give conditions on the ratio \(f(s)/s\) at infinity and zero that guarantee the existence of nodal solutions. The proofs of our main results are based upon bifurcation techniques.