Existence and properties of multiple positive solutions for semi-linear equations with critical exponents (Q2496896)

In this paper the authors consider the following semilinear elliptic problem \[ \begin{aligned} -\Delta &u+u=u^p+\mu f(u+\phi),\\ &u\in H^1(\mathbb R^n),\quad u>0\text{ in }\mathbb R^n,\end{aligned} \] where \(\mu\geq 0\) is a given constant, \(p = (N+2)/(N-2)\) is the critical Sobolev's exponent, \(\phi(x)\) is some given function in \(L^1(\mathbb R^n)\cap C^\alpha (\mathbb R^n)\) and \[ \phi(x)\geq 0, \quad \phi(x)\not\equiv 0\text{ in }\mathbb R^n, \quad | x|^{N-2}\phi(x)\tag{H1} \] is bounded. The hypotheses for \(f\) are as follows: (f1) \(f\in C^2 (\mathbb R^+)\), \(f'(t)\geq 0\), \(f''(t)\geq 0\) for all \(t\geq 0\). (f2) There exists a \(\delta>0\) such that \(tf'(t)\geq (1+\delta)f(t)\) for \(t\geq 0\) and \(N\geq 6\). (f3) \(\lim_{t\to 0}f(t)/t=0\), and \(\lim_{t\to\infty}f(t)/t^q=0\) for some \(q\geq p\). (f4) \(\lim_{t\to\infty}f(t)/t=+\infty\). The main goal of this paper is to exhibit existence results of the above elliptic problem with a very general nonlinear term \(f\) which is nonhomogeneous and satisfies the assumptions (H1) and (f1)--(f4). This paper is organized as follows. The minimal positive solution is obtained in Section 2 by means of the standard barrier method. The existence of the second positive solution is proved in Section 3 by variational methods and the concentration-compactness principle. Further analysis of the set of solutions are made in Section 4 according to bifurcation theory.