Asymptotic Estimates and Qualitative Properties of an Elliptic Problem in Dimension Two (Q4464196)

The authors investigate the elliptic problem \(-\Delta u+\lambda u =u^p\), \(u>0\) in \(\Omega\), \(u=0\) on \(\partial\Omega\), where \(\Omega\subset \mathbb R^2\) is a bounded domain, \(\lambda \geq 0\) and \(p\) is a large positive parameter. Solutions obtained minimizing the associated energy functional (least energy solutions) are discussed. If \(u_{\lambda,p}\) is a solution they prove that \(\| u_{\lambda,p}\| _\infty\to\infty\) as \(p\to\infty\). To describe the other results they define the function \[ \phi_{\lambda,p}(x)=(p-1)\log\Bigl(\frac{1}{\| u_{\lambda,p}\| _\infty} u_{\lambda,p}(x_{\lambda,p}+\frac{x}{\sqrt{p-1}\| u_{\lambda,p}\| _\infty^{(p-1)/2}})\Bigr) \] where \(x\) belongs to a suitable new domain \(\Omega_{\lambda,p}\), \(x_{\lambda,p}\in\Omega\) is a point such that \(\| u_{\lambda,p}\| _\infty=u_{\lambda,p}(x_{\lambda,p})\). They also define the function \[ U_{\mu,y}(x)=\log\Bigl(\frac{8\mu^2}{(1+\mu^2| x-y| ^2)^2}\Bigr), \] where \(\mu\in \mathbb R\) and \(y\in \mathbb R^2\). They prove that for any sequence \(\phi_{p_n}\) with \(p_n\to\infty\) there exists a subsequence which converges in \(C^2_{loc}(\mathbb R^2)\) to \(U_{\mu,y}(x)\), with \(\mu^2=1/8\) and \(y=0\). Note that \(u=U_{\mu,y}(x)\) is a solution to the problem \(-\Delta u=e^u\) in \(\mathbb R^2\) and \(\int_{\mathbb R^2}e^u<\infty.\) Since \(x_{\lambda,p}\to x_\lambda\in\Omega\), this last problem is is a sort of ``limit problem'' of the previous one as \(p\to\infty\). They apply this result to prove that for \(p\) large a solution \(u_{\lambda,p}(x)\) satisfies \((x-x_p)\cdot\nabla u_{\lambda,p}(x)<0\;\;\forall x\in\Omega\setminus\{x_p\}\). Finally, they investigate the characterization of the level sets and the nondegeneracy of the solution for \(p\) large.