The relation between sign-changing solution and positive-negative solutions for nonlinear operator equations and its applications (Q705406)

The paper under review is a valuable theoretical contribution to the theory of nonlinear operator equations represented as a fixed point problem and, as a (mathematical) application, to a nonlinear Sturm--Liouville boundary value problem. Since the fixed point problem in a Banach space is considered to be restricted to some given solid (pointed) cone and its negative (multiplied by \(-1\)), the authors distinguish positive and negative solutions, and, in some complementary case of restriction, sign-changing solutions. In the equation, the operator is the composition of a strictly increasing operator (between our and another Banach space with cone) keeping the cone vertex fixed, followed by a uniformly positive operator being strongly positive. Then, and if the equation's operator is completely continuous and the equation has a sign-changing solution, the authors state and prove that it has at least two nontrivial solutions: one positive and one negative. The proof uses nonlinear functional analysis, especially, the fixed point index. In the example of a Sturm--Liouville two-point boundary value problem and under two assumptions of monotonicity or (at the origin) limit type with respect to the differential equation's right-hand side, the authors show that in presence of a sign-changing solution, the problem has at least four distinct solutions.