Positive solutions of variational inequalities: A degree-theoretic approach (Q791037)

Let X be a real reflexive Banach space, X' its dual and \({\mathbb{K}}\) a nonempty closed convex subset of X. Consider the variational inequality \[ (*)\quad Find u\in {\mathbb{K}}:\quad<Au,v-u>\geq<F(u),v-u>\quad \forall v\in {\mathbb{K}}, \] where A,F:\({\mathbb{K}}\to X'\) and A is strictly monotone and coercive. Then (*) can be transformed to a fixed point equation \(u=K_ AF(u),\) where \(K_ A:X'\to {\mathbb{K}}\). If \(K_ AF\) is compact, one can construct an index of F (relative to A) based on the fixed point index of \(K_ AF\) and having properties similar to those of Leray-Schauder's degree (in particular, (*) possesses a solution if the index is nonzero). This is done in Section 1 of the paper. In Section 2 this index is used in order to study the existence of subcontinua and global bifurcation of positive solutions of (*) for \(F=F(u,\lambda), \Lambda\in R\). In subsequent sections the results of Sections 1 and 2 are applied to some classes of variational inequalities involving elliptic operators. In particular, in Section 7, inequalities of the following type are considerd: \[ (**)\quad Find\quad u\in {\mathbb{K}}:\int_{\Omega}\nabla u\cdot \nabla(v-u)dx-\lambda \int_{\Omega}u(v-u)dx\geq \int_{\Omega}g(v-u)dx\quad \forall v\in {\mathbb{K}}. \] Here \({\mathbb{K}}=\{u\in H^ 1\!_ 0(\Omega):u\geq 0\) a.e. in \(\Omega\}\), \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in \(R^ d\) and \(g\in L^ 2(\Omega).\) It is shown that if \(g(x)<0\) a.e. in \(\Omega\lambda>\lambda_ 0 (\lambda_ 0\) denotes the principal eigenvalue of -\(\Delta\) in \(H^ 1\!_ 0(\Omega))\), then (**) has at least two solutions.