Positive Radial Solutions of Some Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations (Q4344191)

The paper deals with the Dirichlet boundary value problem \[ (\phi(u'))'+ b(r)\phi(u')+ f(u)=0,\;0<r_1<r<r_2,\;u=0,\;r\in\{r_1,r_2\},\tag{1} \] where \(b:[r_1,r_2]\to\mathbb{R}\) and \(f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) are continuous functions, \(\phi:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) is an odd increasing homeomorphism satisfying \[ \forall c>0 \exists A_c>0: A_c\phi(u)\leq \phi(cu),\quad u\in\mathbb{R}^+,\quad\text{with }\lim_{c\to\infty} A_c=\infty. \] This problem is motivated by the study of radial solutions of equations which are perturbations of the \(p\)-Laplacian. The authors prove the existence of a positive solution of (1) provided \[ -\infty<\liminf_{u\to 0} {f(u)\over \phi(u)}\leq \limsup_{u\to 0} {f(u)\over \phi(u)}\leq 0,\quad \lim_{u\to\infty} {f(u)\over \phi(u)}= \infty. \] The second existence result concerns the case of \(f\) nonnegative. The behavior of \(f\) near the origin is then described in terms of the functions \(\int^u_0 f\) and \(\int^u_0\phi\). The proofs are based on the Leray-Schauder degree properties.