Sequences of high and low energy solutions for weighted \((p, q)\)-equations (Q6134126)

The authors study the following Dirichlet problem \[ \begin{cases}-\Delta_{p}^{a_1} u(z)-\Delta_{q}^{a_2} u(z)=f(z,u(z)) \quad\mbox{in } \Omega, &\\ u \Big|_{\partial \Omega} =0, \, 1<q<p,& \end{cases} \] where $\Omega \subseteq \mathbb{R}^N$ is a bounded domain with a $C^2$-boundary $\partial \Omega$. In this problem, the principal operator is the sum of two weighted $r$-Laplace differential operators of the form \[ \Delta_{r}^a u= \mbox{div }(a(z)|\nabla u|^{r-2}\nabla u), \quad \mbox{for all }u \in W_0^{1,r}(\Omega),\quad 1<r<\infty, \] with $a \in C^{0,1}(\overline{\Omega})$, $a(z)\geq \hat{c} > 0$ for all $z \in \overline{\Omega}$. We note that the weights $a_i(\cdot)$, $i=1,2$, in the main equation are in general different, hence it is not possible to use the maximum principle of Pucci-Serrin. The reaction term $f:\Omega \times \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ is a Carathèodory function that satisfies suitable hypotheses to deal with high energy solutions and low energy solutions, respectively. Precisely, when the reaction is superlinear, the authors establish the existence of a sequence of distinct smooth solutions with energies diverging to $+\infty$, by using the fountain theorem. Differently, if the reaction is sublinear, they obtain the existence of a sequence of sign-changing solutions converging to zero in $C_0^{1}(\overline{\Omega})$.