Positive solutions for singular problems with multivalued convection (Q6144112)

Let \(\Omega \subseteq \mathbb{R}^N\) be a bounded domain with a \(C^2\)-boundary \(\partial \Omega\). The authors consider a nonlinear singular problem of the form \[ -\mbox{div}\, a( D u ) \in \lambda u^{-\eta}+ F(z,u,Du) \mbox{ in }\Omega, \] \[ u\big|_{\partial \Omega}=0, \, \lambda>0, \, 0<\eta<1, \, u>0. \] A feature of this problem is that the map \(a:\mathbb{R}^N\to \mathbb{R}^N\) is continuous, strictly monotone and fulfills growth and regularity hypotheses. This way, the authors depict a framework where various well-known operators arise. In the reaction we note the competing effects of two terms of different nature. One is the parametric singular term \(\lambda u^{-\eta}\) and the other is a multivalued perturbation \(F(z,u,Du)\), which depends on the solution and its gradient. It follows that the problem is nonvariational, hence the authors describe a topological approach in obtaining positive and smooth solution. Such approach combines the method of upper-lower solutions with the theory of nonlinear operators of monotone type. Under suitable growth and regularity hypotheses on the multivalued perturbation and using an appropriate multivalued Nemytskii map, the authors prove an existence theorem when the parameter \(\lambda>0\) is small.