Some properties and applications related to the \((2,p)\)-Laplacian operator (Q257360)

The authors study some properties of the operator \(u\mapsto -\Delta u-\Delta_p u\) from a standards Sobolev space \(X\) to its dual \(X^*\). Here, \(X=H_0^1(\Omega)\) if \(1<p\leq 2\) and \(X=W^{1,p}_0(\Omega)\) when \(p>2\) and \(\Omega\) is a smooth and bounded domain. It is proved that \(-\Delta -\Delta_p\) is a homeomorphism from \(X\) to \(X^*\) and that the associated functional belongs to \(C^1(X,{\mathbf R})\). Some applications to quasilinear elliptic equations are further presented. More precisely, the authors obtain the existence of a positive solution by fixed point index argument and the existence of a nodal solution by means of a quantitative deformation lemma.