A counterexample to the Fredholm alternative for the 𝑝-Laplacian (Q4226328)

The authors consider the following nonhomogeneous Dirichlet boundary value problem for the one-dimensional \(p\)-Laplacian with \(1 < p< \infty\) \[ -\bigl(| u'|^{p-2}u'\bigr)'- \lambda| u|^{p-2} u=f(x),\;u(0)=u(T)=0, \tag{1} \] where \(f\) can be expressed as a sum \(1 + h\) with \(h\in L^\infty(0,T)\) small enough, and \(\lambda\in\mathbb{R}\) is a spectral parameter. For the case \(p = 2\), the problem (1) reduces to the well-known Dirichlet problem for the Laplace operator. The solvability of this linear boundary value problem is fully described by the classical Fredholm alternative. The authors focus their attention on some fundamental differences between the cases \(p\neq 2\) and \(p=2\). When \(p\neq 2\), they obtain that the nonuniqueness of a solution to (1) persists for all \(\lambda>0\) regardless if \(\lambda\) is an eigenvalue (the resonant case) or not (the nonresonant case). Further, they show that for every \(\lambda= \lambda_{2k}\) with \(k\geq 1\), and for every \(\lambda= \lambda_{2k+1}\) with \(k>k(p) >0\), \((k(p)\to\infty\) as \(p\to 2)\), the resonant problem (1) has at least one solution. Both these results are counterexamples to the classical Fredholm alternative (which is valid for \(p = 2)\). Some open problems are presented.