Branch continuation inside the essential spectrum for the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (Q523345)

The work is concerned with the following nonlinear Schrödinger equation \[ -\Delta u-\lambda\,u=Q(x)\,|u|^{p-2}\,u, \quad x\in\mathbb{R}^n, \tag{1} \] where \(n\geq 3\), \(p>2\), \(Q\in L^{\infty}(\mathbb{R}^n)\) and \(\lambda\in \mathbb{R}\). The main goal of the authors is to establish sufficient conditions on \(p\) and \(Q\) for the existence of a continuous branch \(\mathcal{C}\) of nontrivial solutions to the equation (1) which intersect \(\{\lambda\}\times L^{s}(\mathbb{R}^n)\) for every \(\lambda\in(-\infty,\lambda_Q)\) and \(s>2\,n/(n-1)\) with some \(\lambda_Q>0\). Supposing that \((A.1)\)\,\,\(p\in(2,2\,(n-1)/(n-2)\), \(Q\in L^{\infty}(\mathbb{R}^n)\setminus\{0\}\) is nonnegative with compact support in \(\mathbb{R}^n\); or \((A.2)\)\,\, \(p\in(2,2\,n/(n-2)\), \(Q\in L^{\infty}(\mathbb{R}^n)\) is with compact support in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and has the form \(Q(x)=\beta(x)\mathrm{dist}\big(x,\mathbb{R}^n\setminus \Omega\big)^{\alpha},\,\,\forall x\in \mathbb{R}^n\) with some \(\alpha>0\), a bounded set \(\Omega\) of class \(C^1\) and positive function \(\beta\in C\big(\mathbb{R}^n\big)\), the authors prove the existence of \(\lambda_Q>0\), depending only on \(n\) and \(\text{diam(supp\,Q)}\), such that for any \(\lambda^\star\in (0,\lambda_Q)\) the equation (1) admits a global branch \(\mathcal{C}\) of nontrivial strong solutions in \((-\infty,\lambda^\star]\times L^s\big(\mathbb{R}^n\big)\) for all \(s>2\,n/(n-1)\). Moreover, if \((\lambda,u)\in \mathcal{C}\), then: (i) \(u\in C^{1,\gamma}_{\text{loc}}\big(\mathbb{R}^n\big),\,\,\forall \gamma\in(0,1)\); (ii) if \(\lambda\leq 0\), then \(u\) is positive on \(\mathbb{R}^n\); (iii) if \(\lambda>0\), then \(u\) is positive on \(\text{supp}\,Q\) and changes sign in \(\mathbb{R}^n\setminus\text{supp}\,Q\). The quantity \(\lambda_Q\) is given by \(\lambda_Q=\Big(y^{(1)}_{(n-2)/2}/\text{diam}(\mathrm{supp}\,Q)\Big)^2\), where \(y^{(1)}_{(n-2)/2}\) is the first positive zero of \(Y_{(n-2)/2}\), the Bessel function of the second kind of order \((n-2)/2\).