Existence for a semilinear sixth-order ODE (Q2497344)

This paper is concerned with the existence and multiplicity of solutions for the sixth-order semilinear ODE \[ u^{(vi)}+A u^{(iv)} + B u'' + Cu = f(x,u)\tag{1} \] under the following two-point boundary conditions of Dirichlet type \[ u(0)=u(L)= u''(0)=u''(L)= u^{(iv)}(0)=u^{(iv)}(L)=0. \] Using variational methods and two Brezis-Nirenberg's linking theorems, the following results are obtained: Theorem 1: Assume that \(f\) is continuous, with \(f(x,0)=0\), \(f(x,u)u>0\) for \(u\neq 0\), \(x\in [0,L]\). Then, if \(P(\frac{n\pi}L)\geq 0\) for all \(n\in\mathbb{N}\), where \(P\) is the polynomial given by \(P(\xi)= \xi^6- A\xi^4 + B\xi^2 - C\), problem (1) has only the trivial solution. Theorem 2: Let \(F(x,u)=\int_0^u f(x,s)ds\) satisfy: 1) \(0 \leq {F(x,u)}=o({u^2})\) as \(| u| \to 0\) uniformly with respect to \(x\) in bounded intervals. 2) \(\frac {F(x,u)}{u^2} \to +\infty\) as \(| u| \to +\infty\) uniformly with respect to \(x\) in bounded intervals Then, if \(P(\frac{n\pi}L) <0\) for some \(n\in \mathbb{N}\), problem (1) has at least two nontrivial solutions. Theorem 3: Let the first condition on the previous theorem hold, and assume: 1) There exists a number \(p>2\) such that for each bounded interval \(I\), there is a constant \(c > 0\) with \( {F(x,u)}\geq c| u| ^p\) for \(x\in I\), \(u\in \mathbb{R}\). 2) There exist \(m\in \mathbb{N}\) and \(L_0>0\) such that \[ P\left(\frac{m\pi}{L_0}\right) <0 = \min \left\{ P\left(\frac{n\pi}{L_0}\right):n\in\mathbb{N}-\{ m\}\right\}, \] and an interval \(U\) with endpoint \(L_0\) such that for \(L\in U-\{L_0\}\) \[ P\left(\frac{(m+1)\pi}{L}\right) = \min \left\{ P\left(\frac{n\pi}{L_0}\right):n \in\mathbb{N}-\{ m\}\right\}<0. \] Then, there exists an interval \(V\subset U\) such that (1) has at least three nontrivial solutions, provided that \(L\in V-\{ L_0\}\).