Positive solutions for singular anisotropic \((p, q)\)-equations (Q2665589)

The paper deals with the following singular \((p(\cdot),q(\cdot))\)-Laplace problem: \[ \begin{cases} -\operatorname{div} \left(|\nabla u|^{p(x)-2}\nabla u+|\nabla u|^{q(x)-2}\nabla u\right)=\lambda\left[u^{-\eta(x)}+f(x,u)\right] &\text{in }\Omega,\\ u>0 &\text{in }\Omega,\\ u=0 &\text{on }\partial\Omega, \end{cases}\tag{1} \] where \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N\) is a bounded domain with \(C^2\)-boundary \(\partial\Omega\); \(p,q\in C^{0,1}(\overline{\Omega})\) and \(\eta\in C(\overline{\Omega})\) satisfy \(1<q(x)<p(x)\) and \(0<\eta(x)<1\) for all \(x\in\overline{\Omega}\); \(f: \Omega\times \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) is a subcritical Carathédory function, which corresponds to superlinear growth but need not satisfy the Ambrosetti-Rabinowitz condition; and \(\lambda\) is a positive parameter. The main results read as follows: ``There exists \(\lambda^*>0\) such that \begin{itemize} \item [(i)] for every \(\lambda\in (0,\lambda^*)\), problem (1) has at least two positive solutions; \item [(ii)] for \(\lambda=\lambda^*\), problem (1) has at least one positive solution; \item [(iii)] for every \(\lambda>\lambda^*\), problem (1) has no positive solutions. \end{itemize} Moreover, for each \(\lambda\in (0,\lambda^*]\), problem (1) has a smallest positive solution \(u_\lambda\), and the map \(\lambda \mapsto u_\lambda\) is strictly increasing.'' To prove these results, the authors apply a combination of variational tools from the critical point theory along with approximation, truncation and comparison techniques. The proofs are based on a \(C^{1,\alpha}\) estimate (for the existence) and ``\(W_0^{1,p(\cdot)}\) versus \(C^1\) local minimizers'' result (for the multiplicity). However, the validity of corresponding references for the \((p(\cdot),q(\cdot))\)-Laplacian is not clear.