Nonlinear Neumann problems with asymmetric nonsmooth potential (Q2501402)

The authors consider the following quasilinear Neumann problem \[ -(| x'(t)| ^{p-2}x'(t))'\in\partial j(t,x(t))+g(t),\;\;0\leq t\leq b,\;\;\;x'(0)=0=x'(b),\tag{1} \] where \(p>1\) and \(g\in L^q(0,b)\) (\(\frac{1}{p}+\frac{1}{q}=1\)). Here, \(j\) is locally Lipschitz in the second variable and the subdifferential is understood in the sense of Clarke. A variational characterization is given for the first eigenvalue \(\gamma\) of \(-(| x'(t)| ^{p-2}x'(t))'\) with boundary conditions \(x(0)=0,\,x'(b)=0\). Then, the authors prove that (1) has a \(C^1\) solution \(x\) with \((| x'| ^{p-2}x')'\in W^{1,q}(0,b)\). The main assumption on the nonlinear term is the one-sided growth restriction \[ \limsup_{x\to\infty}\frac{u}{x^{p-1}}\leq h(t) \] uniformly a.e. in \((0,b)\) and \(u\in\partial j(t,x(t))\), where \(h\in L^1(0, b)\), \(h\leq\gamma\) with strict inequality in a set of positive measure. In addition, the following condition of Landesman-Lazer type is required \[ \limsup_{x\to-\infty}\max\partial j(t,x)<-g(t)<\liminf_{x\to+\infty}\min\partial j(t,x) \] uniformly in \(t\). The proof makes use of nonsmooth critical point theory. The solution is a `saddle' critical point of the functional associated to the problem. The functional satisfies a nonsmooth PS condition. The critical point arises from linking between the set \(\{\pm\xi\}\) with \(\xi\) large and the subset of \(W^{1,p}(0,b)\) consisting of functions with minimum value zero. In the main assumption, the \(\limsup_{x\to+\infty}\) may be replaced with \(\limsup_{x\to-\infty}\). In this way, earlier results of \textit{D. G. Figueiredo} and \textit{B. Ruf} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 421, 1--22 (1991; Zbl 0732.34024)] and \textit{S. Villegas} [J. Differ. Equations 145, No. 1, 145--155 (1998; Zbl 0910.34035)], concerning the smooth case, are extended.