Positive solutions for nonlinear nonhomogeneous Robin problems (Q891800)

Let \(a:\mathbb R^N\rightarrow\mathbb R^N\) be a strictly monotone continuous function and let \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^N\) be a bounded domain with \(C^2\)-boundary \(\partial\Omega\). Moreover, let \(f:\Omega\times\mathbb R\rightarrow\mathbb R\) be a Carathéodory function, with \(f(z,0)=0\), for almost all \(z\in \Omega\), and let \(\beta\in C^{0,\tau}(\partial \Omega)\), where \(\tau\in (0,1)\), be a nonnegative function. The authors investigate the existence, regularity and uniqueness of positive solutions to the Robin problem \[ \begin{alignedat}{2} -\operatorname{div} a(\nabla u(z))& =f(z,u(z)) \quad &&\text{in} \quad \Omega,\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial n_a}+\beta(z)|u|^{p-2}u & =0 \quad &&\text{on} \quad \partial \Omega,\end{alignedat} \] where \(p\in (1,\infty)\), and \(\frac{\partial u}{\partial n_a}:=a(\nabla u)\frac{\partial u}{\partial n}\) is the conormal derivative of \(u\). Here, \(n\) is the outward unit normal to \(\partial \Omega\). The function \(a\) is supposed to satisfy certain structure conditions that ensure the applicability of known regularity results as well as the nonlinear maximum principle of Pucci-Serrin. These conditions are satisfied by functions which correspond to known nonlinear differential operators such as the \(p\)-Laplacian, the \((p,q)\)-Laplacian, and the generalized \(p\)-mean curvature differential operator. By assuming a suitable \((p-1)\)-sublinear growth condition at \(+\infty\) and a suitable \((q-1)\)-superlinear growth condition at \(0\) on the nonlinearity \(f\), the authors prove the existence of a smallest positive solution belonging to the interior of the positive cone of \(C^1(\overline{\Omega})\). Under the additional condition that the function \(t\rightarrow f(z,t)/t^{q-1}\) is strictly decreasing on \((0,+\infty)\), for almost all \(z\in \Omega\), the authors also prove the uniqueness of the positive solution. Some special cases of the main result are also discussed. To prove the main result the authors employ variational methods.