Effect of lower order perturbation on maximization problem associated with Trudinger-Moser inequality (Q2678992)

The paper studies the problem of existence and non-existence of maximizers for the quantity \[ C(\lambda,f)=\sup \int_B \left(e^{\alpha_2 u^2}-\lambda f(|u|)\right)dx, \] where \(B\) is the unit ball in \(\mathbb R^2\), \(\alpha_2=4\pi\), and the supremum is taken over all functions \(u\in H^1_0(B)\) such that \(\int_B|\nabla u|^2dx\le 1\). The quantity \(C(\lambda,f)\) is a nonlinear improvement of the Moser-Trudinger inequality that states that \[ \sup \int_\Omega e^{\alpha_2 u^2}dx<\infty, \] where \(\Omega\) a bounded domain in \(\mathbb R^2\), the supremum is taken over the functions \(u\in H^1_0(\Omega)\) such that \(\int_\Omega|\nabla u|^2dx\le 1\), and for which the existence of a maximizer has been shown in the literature (see [\textit{K.-C. Lin}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 348, No. 7, 2663--2671 (1996; Zbl 0861.49001)] and the references therein). The author considers the class of continuous functions from \([0,+\infty)\) to itself such that \(f(0)=0\) and \[ f(s)<K e^{\alpha_2 s^2}. \] Improving the blowup techniques used in the literature, he proves the existence or the non-existence of maximizers for \(C(\lambda,f)\) depending on specific subclasses of functions \(f\) as well as specific values of \(\lambda\).