No label defined (Q4512803)

The authors consider the boundary value problem \[ u''+\lambda f(u)=0,\quad -1<x<1,\quad u(-1)=u(1)=0, \] with \(f\in C^1[0,\infty)\), \(f(0)>0\). Using bifurcation arguments they prove that if for some \(\alpha> \beta>0\), \(f(u)-uf' (u)\geq 0\) for \(0<u< \beta\), \(f(u)-uf'(u)\leq 0\) for \(\beta<u <\alpha\) and \(2F( \alpha)-\alpha f(\alpha)\leq 0\) then the solution \(u\) with \(u(0)=\alpha\) is unstable if it exists. Many applications follow. The first one is to fully exclude the phase plane argument from the proof of exact \(S\)-shapedness in [\textit{P. Korman} and \textit{Y. Li}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 127, No. 4, 1011-1020 (1999; Zbl 0917.34013)]. The following application gives \(a\supset\)-shaped curve under the assumptions \(f(u)\geq 0\) for all \(u>0\) and for some \(\alpha>0\), \(f(u)-uf'(u)<0\) for all \(u>\alpha\), \(2F(\alpha)-\alpha f(\alpha)\leq 0\) and \(f''(u)>0\) for all \(0<u<\alpha\). Also, they conjecture that the same conclusion holds with no convexity restriction in the interval \((0,\alpha)\), but just assuming \(f(u)> 0\) for all \(u>0\), \(2F(\alpha)-\alpha f(\alpha)<0\) and \(f(u)-uf'(u)\geq 0\) for \(0< u<\beta\) and \(f(u)-uf'(u)\leq 0\) for \(\beta<u <\infty\). The following application allows \(f(u)\) to be concave for small \(u\) and provides \(a\supset\)-shaped curve, too. An interesting example is given which is to be compared with a similar one obtained by \textit{S. H. Wang} and \textit{D.-M. Long} [Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl. 44A, No.4, 469-486 (2001; Zbl 0992.34014)]. Next, a dual version to their main result is given and an application which generalizes one of the main results of \textit{P. Korman}, \textit{Y. Li}, and \textit{T. Ouyang} [Proc. R. Soc. Edinb., Sect. A 126, No. 3, 599-616 (1996; Zbl 0855.34022)] is given. The last section deals with nonautonomous boundary value problems for a class of symmetric nonlinearities. After some interesting results, they end this section by an application which extends a result of \textit{P. Korman} and \textit{T. Ouyang} [Differ. Integral Equ. 6, No. 6, 1507-1517 (1993; Zbl 0780.34013)] by not restricting the behavior of \(f(u)\) at infinity.