Global bifurcation results for semilinear elliptic problems in (Q4228063)

The author proves the existence of global bifurcation branches of solutions of the elliptic equation \[ -\Delta u=\lambda u+h(x)f(u) \quad\text{in }\mathbb R^N, \] where \(\lambda\in\mathbb R\) and \(u\) is positive, \(u\in L^\infty(\mathbb R^N)\) or \(u\in H^1(\mathbb R^N)\). The class of functions \(f\) contains the functions \(f(t)=t^p\), \(0<p<1\) or \(p>1\), and \(f(t)=t^p-t^q\), \(1<p<q\). A modified equation of the form \[ -\Delta u=\lambda h_1(x)u-h_2(x)f(u) \] is also considered. The proof is based on precise a priori estimates for the corresponding ``local'' solutions, i.e. solutions of the corresponding homogeneous Dirichlet problem on a ball \(B_R\subset\mathbb R^N\), \(R\to\infty\). The branches bifurcate (in almost all cases) from the bottom of the essential spectrum.