Critical points approaches to elliptic problems driven by a \(p(x)\)-Laplacian (Q318098)

The authors investigate the following Dirichlet problem involving the \(p(x)\)-Laplacian \[ -\Delta_{p(x)}u =\lambda f(x, u)\text{ in }\Omega,\tag{1.1} \] where \(\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^N,\;N\geq1,\) is a nonempty bounded open set with smooth boundary \(\partial\Omega\), and \(f:\Omega\times\mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}\) is an \(L^1\)-Caratheodory function. By using the variational method and critical point theory, the authors get the following two aspects results. On the one hand, the authors apply two related three-critical-points theorems for differentiable functionals due to \textit{G. Bonanno} and \textit{P. Candito} [J. Differ. Equations 244, No. 12, 3031--3059 (2008; Zbl 1149.49007)] to prove the existence of at least three weak solutions to problem (1.1). More accurately, Theorems 4 and 5 in this paper extend the results of \textit{G. Bonanno} and \textit{A. Chinnì} [Matematiche 66, No. 1, 107--115 (2011; Zbl 1234.35119)]. On the other hand, they establish the existence of at least one nontrivial weak solution to problem (1.1) by using a local minimum theorem for differentiable functionals due to \textit{G. Bonanno} [Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl., Ser. A, Theory Methods 75, No. 5, 2992--3007 (2012; Zbl 1239.58011)].