Radial solutions for a Dirichlet problem in a ball (Q792548)

Let \(\Omega \subset {\mathbb{R}}^ N\) be a bounded smooth domain. Let \(\lambda_ 1\) be the first eigenvalue of -\(\Delta\) on \(H^ 1_ 0(\Omega)\) and let \(\Phi_ 1>0\) be a corresponding eigenfunction. The Ambrosetti-Prodi problem \[ (1)\quad -\Delta u=f(x,u)+h(x)+t\Phi_ 1(x)\quad in\quad \Omega,\quad u=0\quad on\quad \partial \Omega, \] where \(t\in {\mathbb{R}}\), \(h\in C({\bar \Omega})\), \(\int h\Phi_ 1=0\), is studied. First it is proved that if \[ -\infty<\lim_{s\to - \infty}f(x,s)/s<\lambda_ 1<\lim_{s\to +\infty}f(x,s)/s<\infty \] then problem (1) has a large positive and a large negative solution for \(t<0\) large. The interest in this type of solution comes from the fact that they play a special role in the existence of other solutions. This has been observed before for special classes of problem (1) by Lazer-McKenna, Solimini and Ambrosetti. If the limit of \(f(x,s)/s\) at \(+\infty\) is larger than a higher eigenvalue, it is expected that other solutions, besides the positive and negative ones, will appear. Previous results of Hofer, Solimini and Ambrosetti indicate that this is the case. They have been able to prove existence of up to six solutions. A connection between the number of solutions and the number of eigenvalues which are crossed has been proved to exist in the o.d.e. case by Lazer-McKenna. Here the authors consider the case of a ball in \({\mathbb{R}}^ N\) and prove the existence of many radial solutions. These solutions are characterized by the number of their ''nodal lines''.