The existence of positive solutions for a nonlinear four-point singular boundary value problem with a \(p\)-Laplacian operator (Q876925)

The authors study the existence of positive solutions for the following nonlinear four-point singular boundary value problem with a \(p\)-Laplacian operator \[ (\phi_p(u'))'+a(t)f(u(t))=0,\quad 0<t<1, \] \[ \alpha\phi_p(u(0))-\beta\phi_p(u'(\xi))=0,\quad \gamma\phi_p(u(1))+\delta\phi_p(u'(\eta))=0, \] where \(\phi_p(s)\) is a \(p\)-Laplacian operator, i.e. \(\phi_p(s)=| s| ^{p-2}s, p>1, \phi_q=(\phi_p)^{-1}, \frac{1}{p}+\frac{1}{q}=1, \alpha>0, \beta\geq 0, \gamma>0, \delta\geq 0, \xi, \eta\in(0,1)\) is prescribed and \(\xi<\eta\), \(a\in C((0,1),(0,\infty))\). Based on discussions about the asymptotic behavior of the quotient of \(\frac{f(u)}{u^{p-1}}\) at zero and infinity, and by using the fixed-point index theory, the existence of a positive solution and multiple positive solutions for the above boundary value problem are obtained.