Existence of positive solutions for \(n\)th-order \(p\)-Laplacian singular super-linear boundary value problems (Q894416)

This paper is devoted to the \(n\)th-order \(p\)-Laplacian singular boundary value problem \[ \varphi_p(x^{(n-2)})''(t)+f(t,x(t),x'(t),\dots,x^{(i)}(t),\dots,x^{(n-2)}(t))=0,\;t\in (0,1), \] \[ x^{(i)}(0)=0,\;i=0,1,2,\dots,n-2,\;\;x^{(n-2)}(1)=0, \] where \(\varphi_p(t)=|t|^{p-2}t,p\geq2,n\geq3\) is an integer, \(f:(0,1)\times[0,\infty)^{n-1}\to[0,\infty)\) is continuous and there are constants \(\lambda_i,\mu_i,i=0,1,2,\dots,n-2,\) such that \(0<\lambda_i\leq\mu_i,i=0,1,2,\dots,n-3,0\leq\lambda_{n-2}\leq\mu_{n-2}<p-1,\) \(\sum_{i=0}^{n-2}\lambda_i>p-1\) and if \(c\in(0,1],i=0,1,2,\dots,n-2,\) then \[ c^{\mu_i}f(t,x_0,x_1,\dots,x_i,\dots,x_{n-2})\leq f(t,x_0,x_1,\dots,cx_i,\dots,x_{n-2})\leq c^{\lambda_i}f(t,x_0,x_1,\dots,x_i,\dots,x_{n-2}) \] for \(t\in(0,1)\) and \(x_i\in[0,\infty).\) The problem is singular since the function \(f(t,x_0,x_1,\dots,x_i,\dots,x_{n-2})\) is allowed to be unbounded at \(x_i,\) \(i=0,1,\dots,n-2,t=0\) and/or \(t=1.\) It is proved that if \(F_2(t)\equiv f(t,t^{n-2},t^{n-3},\dots,t^{n-2-i},\dots,t,1)>0\) for \(t\in(0,1)\) and \(0<\int_0^1F_2(t)dt<\infty\), then the considered problem has at least one solution \(x(t)\in S_p^{n-1}=\{x\in C^{n-1}[0,1],\varphi_p(x^{(n-2)})\in C^1[0,1]\cap C^2(0,1)\}\) such that \(x^{(n-1)}(0^+)\) and \(x^{(n-1)}(1^-)\) exist and \(x^{(i)}(t)>0,\) \(i=0,1,\dots,n-2,\) for \(t\in(0,1).\) Besides, it is proved that a necessary condition for the considered problem to have positive solutions in \(S_p^{n-1}\) is \[ 0<\int_0^1F_3(t)dt<\infty, \] where \[ F_3(t)\equiv f(t,t^{n-2+1/(p-1)},t^{n-3+1/(p-1)},\dots,t^{n-2-i+1/(p-1)},\dots,t^{1+1/(p-1)},t^{1/(p-1)}). \] A necessary condition and a sufficient condition for the existence of positive solutions in \(S_p^{n-2}=\{x\in C^{n-2}[0,1],\varphi_p(x^{(n-2)})\in C[0,1]\cap C^2(0,1)\}\) are given also.