Existence and non-existence of Schwarz symmetric ground states for elliptic eigenvalue problems (Q2505599)

The authors treat the following constrained minimization problem: \[ M(c) = \inf \biggl\{J(u): u \in H^1(\mathbb R^N)\quad\text{and}\quad \int_{\mathbb R^N} u(x)^2\,dx = c^2\biggr\}, \tag{1} \] where \(c > 0\) is prescribed and \[ J(u) = \int_{\mathbb R^N} ({1}/{2} |\bigtriangledown u(x)|^2 - G(|x|, u(x)))\, dx. \tag{2} \] It is shown that under rather general and natural assumptions about the function \(G\) the symmetrization may be used to investigate the problem (1), (2). The main result establishes the existence of a Schwarz symmetric minimizer for (1), (2). Examples are given to illustrate the role of conditions derived for attaining \(M(c)\) in any \(c > 0.\)