A half-linear differential equation and variational problem (Q5940153)

The author investigates the variational problem with general boundary conditions whose corresponding Euler-Lagrange equation is the half-linear differential equation \[ (r(t)\Phi(y'))'+q(t)\Phi(y)=0, \] with \(\Phi(u)=|u|^{p-2}u\), \(p>1\) a constant, \(r,q\) real-valued continuous functions defined on a compact interval \(I=[a,b]\), and \(r(t)>0\) on \(I\). The main results of the paper give necessary and sufficient conditions for the nonnegativity of the scalar \(p\)-degree functional \[ \mathcal{J}(\eta;a,b)=\alpha|\eta(a)|^p+ \gamma |\eta(b)|^p +\int_{a}^b [r(t)|\eta'(t)|]^p-q(t)|\eta(t)|^p dt, \] where \(\eta\in W^{1,p}\) is the addmissible function satisfying the boundary condition \(D\binom{\eta(a)}{\eta(b)}=\binom{0}{0}\) where \(D\) is a diagonal \(2\times 2\)-matrix. Conditions for the nonnegativity of the functional \(\mathcal{J}\) are given in terms of coupled points which generalize classical conjugate and focal points, and in terms of solutions to a Riccati-type equation.