Positive solution for a second order BVP with singular sign-changing nonlinearity (Q2818489)

This paper discusses the solvability of the following boundary value problem (BVP) NEWLINE\[NEWLINE-(pu')'(t)=f(t,u(t)) \;a.e.\; t\in(0,1),NEWLINE\]NEWLINE NEWLINE\[NEWLINEau(0)-b\lim_{t\to0}p(t)u'(t)=0,\quad cu(1)+d\lim_{t\to1}p(t)u'(t)=0.NEWLINE\]NEWLINE Here \(p:(0,1)\to[0,+\infty)\) is a measurable function with \(\int_0^1\frac{d\tau}{p(\tau)}<\infty,\) the positive constants \(a,b,c\) are such that \({ad+ac\int_0^1\frac{d\tau}{p(\tau)}+bc>0,}\) and the main nonlinearity \(f\) is an \(L_G^1\)-Carathéodory function on \((0,1)\times(0,+\infty)\), where \({L_G^1=\Bigl\{q:(0,1)\to \mathbb{R}\;\text{measurable,}\;\int_0^1G(t,t)|q(t)|dt<+\infty\Bigr\}}\) and \(G\) is the Green's function associated with the considered BVP with \(f\equiv0.\) In fact, the function \(f(t,u)\) may be singular at \(u=0,\) that is, there may exists \(t_0\in(0,1)\) such that \(\lim_{u\to0}f(t_0,u)=+\infty.\)NEWLINENEWLINEUsing the Krasnoselskii's fixed point theorem and proving firstly an existence theorem for the nonsingular problem, the authors show that the singular problem has at least one positive solution under the following additional assumptions: There exist functions \(m_1,m_2,\beta\in\{{q\in L_G^1} \;\text{such}\) \(\text{that}\;q(t)\geq0\;\text{for a.e.}\;t\in(0,1)\}\), a continuous decreasing function \(g:(0,+\infty)\to(0,+\infty)\), a continuous increasing function \(h:[0,+\infty)\to[0,+\infty)\), a suitable function \(\rho:[0,1]\to\mathbb{R}\) which is positive on \((0,1)\) and suitable constants \(R_1,R_2\) and \(\phi^*\) with \(R_1>\phi^*,\) NEWLINE\[NEWLINE|f(t,u)|\leq m_1(t)g(u)+m_2(t)h(u)\;\text{for all}\;u>0\;\text{and a.e.}\;t\in(0,1),NEWLINE\]NEWLINE NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\int_0^1G(s,s)(m_1(s)g(\rho(s)(R_1-\phi^*))+m_2(s)h(R_1)+q(s))ds\leq R_1,NEWLINE\]NEWLINE there exists \(\sigma\in(0,\frac{1}{2})\) for which NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\phi^*<R_2\leq\max_{t\in[0,1]}\int_\sigma^{1-\sigma}G(t,s)\beta(s)ds,NEWLINE\]NEWLINE and NEWLINE\[NEWLINEf(t,u)+q(t)\geq\beta(t)\;\text{for a.e.}\;t\in[\sigma,1-\sigma]\;\text{and all}\;u\in[\rho_\sigma(R_2-\phi^*),R_2],NEWLINE\]NEWLINE where \(\rho_\sigma=\min_{s\in[\sigma,1-\sigma]}\rho(s).\)