A critical point theorem and existence results for a nonlinear boundary value problem (Q2654021)

The authors establish a critical point theorem and then use it to study the Neumann boundary value problem \[ -u''=f(x,u),\;\;\; x\in[0,1],\;\;\;\; u'(0)=u'(1)=0 \tag{1} \] where \(f:[0,1]\times{\mathbb R}\to {\mathbb R}\) is a \(L^2\)-Carathéodory function. The abstract theorem concerns the existence of a minimum of a given functional, the value of the minimum being bounded below by a convenient number. The main result about (1) states that (1) has a solution if \(F(x,t)=\int_0^tf(x,u)\,du\) satisfies {\parindent7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(i)] \(F(x,t)\leq a (1+|t|^s)-bt^2\) \(\forall (x,t)\in[0,1]\times{\mathbb R}\), where \(a\), \(b\), \(s<2\) are positive constants; \item[(ii)] there exists \(k>0\) such that \(\int_0^1F(x,k)\,dx>0\). \end{itemize}} Moreover, the authors prove that (1) has at least three solutions if in addition \(F\leq0\) in \([0,1]\times[-\delta,\delta]\) for some \(\delta>0\). They comment on why previous critical point theorems, namely Ricceri's three-critical point theorem, are not applicable to the examples they consider.