Generalized Joseph-Lundgren exponent and intersection properties for supercritical quasilinear elliptic equations (Q512283)

\noindent Let \(\alpha,\beta,\gamma>0\) with \(\gamma>\alpha>\beta>0\), and let \(p>1\). The authors consider the following quasilinear problem: \[ r^{-(\gamma-1)}(r^\alpha|u'|^{\beta-1}u')'+|u|^{p-1}u=0,\quad 0<r<\infty,\quad u(0)=\rho>0,\quad u'(0)=0. \] The authors study the intersection number of positive solutions \(u(\cdot,\rho_1)\), \(u(\cdot,\rho_2)\) vanishing at infinity (corresponding, respectively, to the initial values \(\rho_1,\rho_2\in (0,+\infty]\) with \(\rho_1\neq \rho_2\)), on varying of the exponent \(p\) (it is known that such solutions exist for sufficiently large \(p\)). More precisely, the authors prove the following result: the intersection number of \(u(\cdot,\rho_1)\) and \(u(\cdot,\rho_2)\) is \(\infty\) or \(0\), this last case under the additional condition \(\beta>1\), according to whether \(p_S^*<p<p_{JL}^*\) or \(p\geq p_{JL}^*\), where \( p_S^*=p_S^*(\alpha,\beta,\gamma)\) and \(p_{JL}^*=p_{JL}^*(\alpha,\beta,\gamma)\) are two (explicitly computed) exponents depending on \(\alpha,\beta,\gamma\) which correspond, respectively, to the critical Sobolev exponent and to the so called Joseph-Lundgren exponent for \(\alpha=N-1\), \(\beta=m-1\), and \(\gamma=N\), where \(N,m\in \mathbb{N}\), \(N\geq 3\), \(m\geq 2\) (for \(p=p_S^*\), it is known that the intersection number of \(u(\cdot,\rho_1)\) and \(u(\cdot,\rho_2)\) is 1 or 2 according to whether \(\rho_1,\rho_2<\infty\) or \(\rho_1<\infty\) and \(\rho_2=\infty\)). The main result is proved by using a phase plane analysis method: a suitable change of variables, which is different according to the cases \(p_S^*<p<p_{JL}^*\) or \(p\geq p_{JL}^*\), transforms the above equation into an autonomous system. Conclusion is then derived from properties of the orbits and the equilibrium points of this system.