Noncoercive resonant \((p,2)\)-equations (Q681939)

The paper deals with nonlinear Dirichlet problems driven by the \((p,2)\)-Laplacian, that is, the sum of the \(p\)-Laplacian and the Laplacian. Precisely, for a given bounded domain \(\Omega \subseteq \mathbb{R}^N\) with \(C^2\)-boundary \(\partial\Omega\), the authors study the following nonlinear elliptic equation \[ \begin{alignedat}{2} -\Delta_p u(z)-\Delta u(z)& = f(z,u(z))\quad \text{in}\quad \Omega,\\ u & = 0\quad \text{on}\quad \partial \Omega, \end{alignedat}\tag{1} \] with \(p>2\) and a measurable function \(f:\Omega\times \mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) which is \(C^1\) in the first variable. The problem (1) is resonant at \(\pm\infty\) with respect to the principal eigenvalue \(\hat{\lambda}_1(p)\) of \((-\Delta_p,W^{1,p}_0(\Omega))\) and resonant at zero with respect to any nonprincipal eigenvalue of \((-\Delta,H^1_0(\Omega))\). At \(\pm\infty\) the resonance occurs from the right of \(\hat{\lambda}_1(p)\) and so the energy functional of the problem is indefinite. Based on Morse theory in terms of critical groups, the authors show that the problem has at least one nontrivial smooth solution.