Minimization of eigenvalues and construction of non-degenerate potentials for the one-dimensional \(p\)-Laplacian (Q2629536)

The authors study a minimization problem related to the eigenvalue problem \[ (\phi_p (y'))' + (\lambda + q(t))\phi_p (y) = 0, \;t \in I = [a,b], \;y(a) = y(b) = 0, \] where \(1 < p < \infty\), \(\phi_p (s):= | s |^{p-2}s \forall \;s \in \mathbb{R}\), and \( q \in L^1 (I).\) \newline The previous problem has a sequence of eigenvalues \[ -\infty < \lambda_1 (q) < \lambda_2 (q) < \ldots < \lambda_m (q) < \ldots, \lim_{m \rightarrow +\infty} \;\lambda_m (q) = + \infty. \] More precisely, they study \[ \mathcal{M}_m (A,B,r;I) := \inf \{ \lambda_m (q): q \in \Omega_{A,B,r} (I) \} \equiv \inf \{ \lambda_m (q): q \in \hat{\Omega}_{A,B,r}(I) \}, \] where \(m \in \mathbb{N}, \;-\infty < A < B < +\infty, \;r \in [A,B]\) and \[ \Omega_{A,B} (I) := \{ q \in L^1 (I): A \leq q(t) \leq B \;\text{a.e.} \;t \in I \}, \] \[ \Omega_{A,B,r} (I) := \{ q \in \Omega_{A,B}(I): [q]_I \leq r \}, \;\hat{\Omega}_{A,B,r}(I) := \{ q \in \Omega_{A,B}(I): [q]_I = r \}. \] Here, \([q]_I := \frac{1}{| I | } \int_I q(t) \;dt,\) i.e., the mean value of \(q\) on \(I.\) The proof uses the Symmetric rearrangement or the Schwarz rearrangement. \newline As an application, they construct an optimal class of non-degenerate potentials for the one-dimensional \(p\)-Laplacian which is a generalization of many known classes of non-degenerate potentials.