On linear and nonlinear fourth-order eigenvalue problems with indefinite weight (Q642558)

The authors consider first the linear eigenvalue problem \[ u''''(x) = \lambda g(x) u(x) \text{ on }[0,1] \] with the boundary conditions \[ u(0) = u(1) = u''(0) = u''(1) = 0, \] where \(g\) is a continuous real function changing its sign. They observe that this problem has two simple principal eigenvalues \(\lambda_- < 0 < \lambda_+\) with eigenfunctions having no sign change. Then, this result is used to treat the (generally) nonlinear boundary value problem \[ u''''(x) = r g(x) f(u(x)) \text{ on } [0,1] \] under the same boundary conditions as before. It is assumed that \(f\) is a real continuous function with \(sf(s) > 0\) such that the limits \(f_0 := \lim_{s \rightarrow 0} f(s)/s\) and \(f_\infty := \lim_{|s| \rightarrow \infty} f(s)/s\) exist. If \(f_0 < f_\infty\), it is shown that all values \[ r \in \left(\frac{\lambda_+}{f_\infty},\frac{\lambda_+}{f_0}\right) \cup \left(\frac{\lambda_-}{f_0},\frac{\lambda_-}{f_\infty}\right) \] allow for a positive solution of the nonlinear problem. If \(f_\infty < f_0\), the same is shown for \[ r \in \left(\frac{\lambda_+}{f_0},\frac{\lambda_+}{f_\infty}\right) \cup \left(\frac{\lambda_-}{f_\infty},\frac{\lambda_-}{f_0}\right). \]