Free boundary problems and the set-valued mappings (Q789620)

Many free boundary problems arising from mathematical physics may be written in the form of a differential operator with discontinuous nonlinearity \((DNDE)Lu(x)=\phi(x,u(x))\) in \(\Omega\), where L is an elliptic or parabolic linear differential operator, the function \(\phi\) (x,t), which may be discontinuous in t, is defined on \(\Omega \times {\mathbb{R}}^ 1\), and \(\Omega\) is a domain in \(R^ n\) with sufficiently smooth boundary. Some typical free boundary problems, such as the obstacle problem, the seepage surface problem, the Stefan problem and the Elenbaas equation are presented. Existence theorems for all these problems are found by a new method: The problems may be reduced to find the fixed points of a specified class of set-valued mappings. A degree theory for a class of compact set-valued mappings is developed, important fixed point theorems and bifurcation theorems for single-valued mappings are extended to this case. The connection between solutions of DNDE and fixed points of set-valued mappings is investigated. The results are used to discuss the existence of solutions of the free boundary problems cited above. Finally, the number of distinct non-trivial solutions is discussed, especially for the Elenbaas equation.