Existence theorem for a class of semilinear totally characteristic elliptic equations with critical cone Sobolev exponents (Q620453)

Let \(X\) be a compact set in \({\mathbb R}^{n-1}\) (\(n\geq 4\)) and set \({\mathbb B}:=[0,1)\times X\). Fix a positive parameter \(\lambda\) and let \(2^*:=2n/(n-2)\) denote the critical Sobolev exponent. This paper is concerned with the nonlinear elliptic equation \(-\Delta_{\mathbb B}u=\lambda u+|u|^{2^*-2}u\) in int\(\,{\mathbb B}\), subject to the Dirichlet boundary condition \(u=0\) on \(\partial{\mathbb B}\). Let \(\lambda_1\) denote the first eigenvalue of the differential operator \(-\Delta_{\mathbb B}\) with zero Dirichlet condition on \(\partial{\mathbb B}\). The main result of the present paper establishes that for any \(\lambda\in (0,\lambda_1)\), the above Dirichlet problem has a nontrivial positive weak solution. The proof strongly relies on the mountain pass theorem of Ambrosetti and Rabinowitz.