On the number of peaks of the eigenfunctions of the linearized Gel'fand problem (Q5964952)

The Gel'fand problem \[ \begin{aligned} - \Delta & u = \lambda e^{u} \text{ in } \Omega \\ & u = 0 \text{ on } \Omega,\end{aligned} \] where \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^2 \) is a bounded domain with smooth boundary and \( \lambda > 0 \) is a real parameter appears in many fields of mathematics. Let be \(\{ u_n \} \) a sequence of solutions of the Gel'fand problem belonging to a sequence of positive eigenvalues \(\{ \lambda_n \}, \) \(\lambda_n \to 0 \) with \(n \to \infty, \) which blows-up at m-points, that means it exists a set \( \mathcal{S} = \{ k_1 ,\dots, k_m \} \subset \Omega \) of m distinct points such that \[ \begin{aligned} \| & u_n\|_{L^\infty (\omega)} = 0(1) \text{ for any } \omega \Subset \overline {\Omega} \setminus \mathcal{S}, \\ & u_n|_\mathcal{S} \to \infty \text{ as } n \to \infty. \end{aligned} \] Sufficient conditions for the existence of this type of solutions are well-known. The authors consider for such a solution \(u_n\) with m blow-up points the eigenvalue problem \[ \begin{aligned} - \Delta v_n^k & = \mu_n^k \lambda_n e^{u_n}v_n^k \text{ in } \Omega \\ \| v_n^k\|_\infty & = \max_{\overline{\Omega}} v_n^k =1 \\ v_n^k & = 0 \text{ on } \partial \Omega, \end{aligned} \] where \(v_n^k\) is the k-the eigenfunction belonging the the eigenvalue \(\mu_n^k\). The paper contains point-wise estimates of the eigenfunctions \(v_n^k\) and deals with the number of peaks. A naturally question in this context is the following: If \( \{u_n \}\) blows-up at a set of points, is the same true for the eigenfunctions \(\{v_n^k\} \)? The authors give a partial answer to this question and discuss the multiplicity of the eigenvalues \(\mu_n^k\) in the case where \(\Omega\) is an annulus.