Uniqueness of positive radial solutions of the Brezis-Nirenberg problem on thin annular domains on \(\mathbb{S}^n\) and symmetry breaking bifurcations (Q2658652)

The authors study the Brezis-Nirenberg problem \begin{align*} \Delta_{S^n} U + \lambda U + U^p &= 0, \quad U > 0 && \textrm{in } \Omega_{\theta_1, \theta_2},\\ U &= 0 && \textrm{on } \partial\Omega_{\theta_1, \theta_2}, \end{align*} where \(\Omega_{\theta_1, \theta_2}\) is the set of points whose great circle distance from \((0,\ldots,0,1)\) lies between \(\theta_2\) and \(\theta_1\), \(p > 1\), \(n \in \mathbb{N}\) with \(n\ge 2\), \(\Delta_{S^n}\) is the Laplace-Beltrami operator on the unit sphere \(S^n\), \(\lambda\) is less than the first eigenvalue of \(-\Delta_{S^n}\) on \(\Omega_{\theta_1, \theta_2}\) with Dirichlet boundary conditions. First it is shown, that for sufficiently narrow annular regions the problem has a unique positive, radially nondegenerate solution; also asymptotic estimates for the shape and size of this radial solution for narrow regions are derived. By investigating the eigenvalue problem at the radial solution, it is shown that for sufficiently narrow regions many nonradial positive solutions bifurcate. By using a variant of a generalized Pohožaev identity the authors can avoid a restriction on the parameter \(p\) which occurs for the variational method.