Perturbations of Paneitz-Branson operators on \(S^n\) (Q2569676)

Summary: We prove the existence of solutions on the standard unit sphere \((S^n, h)\) for the equation \(P^n_h u = d_n u^{\frac{8}{n-4}}u + (\varepsilon K + o(\varepsilon))|u|^{q-1}\), where \(P_g^n\) is the fourth order conformally invariant Paneitz-Branson operator. We will approach this problem via a finite dimensional reduction which lead us to consider the ``stable'' critical points of the ``Melnikov function'': in the case \(q=\frac{n+4}{n-4}\), a more subtle analysis will be carried out by means of a Morse relation for functions on manifolds with boundary which are quite degenerate on the boundary.