Some existence results for noncoercive nonconvex minimization problems with fast or slow perturbing terms^* (Q4239756)

The author considers the framework introduced by \textit{C. Baiocchi, G. Buttazzo, F. Gastaldi} and \textit{F. Tomarelli} [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 100, No. 2, 149-189 (1988; Zbl 0646.73011)] to treat noncoercive variational problems and shows that a suitable generalization of the definition of recession function allows to obtain existence results for a larger class of problems. More precisely, if \(X\) is a reflexive Banach space and \(F:X\to \overline{\mathbb{R}}\) is a weakly lower semicontinuous functional, the author proves that the conditions (i) if \(\| v_n\|\to +\infty\), \(F(v_n)\leq C\), \(v_n/\| v_n\|\rightharpoonup w\), \(\| v_n\|\leq\| v_n-\lambda w\|\) \(\forall n\), \(\forall\lambda\geq 1\), then there exists \(v_0\in X\) such that \(F(v_0)< \limsup_{n\to+\infty} F(v_n)\); (ii) if \(\| v_n\|\to +\infty\), \(F(v_n)\leq C\), \(v_n/\| v_n\| \rightharpoonup w\), then \(F(u-w)\leq F(u)\) for every \(u\in X\); imply the existence of at least a minimizer for \(F\) on \(X\). This existence result can also be expressed in terms of the \(\varphi\)-recession functionals \[ F_{\infty,\varphi} (x)=\inf \Biggl\{ \liminf_{n\to +\infty} \frac{F(\lambda_nx_n)} {\varphi(\lambda_n)}: x_n \rightharpoonup x,\;\lambda_n\to +\infty\Biggr\}, \] where \(\varphi: \mathbb{R}^+\to \mathbb{R}^+\) is such that \(\varphi(t)\to +\infty\) as \(t\to +\infty\). The Baiocchi, Buttazzo, Gastaldi and Tomarelli definition was with \(\varphi(t) =t\). Some examples are presented to show the features of the new setting. They are of the form: \[ \begin{aligned} \min &\Biggl\{ \int_\Omega [| \nabla u|^2+ f(x)h(u)]dx: u\in H^1(\Omega) \Biggr\} \quad \text{(Examples 3.1 and 3.2)},\\ \min &\Biggl\{ \int_\Omega [| \nabla u|^p- \lambda_0| u|^p+ g(x,u,\nabla u)]dx: u\in W_0^{1,p} (\Omega) \Biggr\} \quad \text{(Example 3.3)}. \end{aligned} \] {}.