Critical point methods (Q943726)

The author presents a survey of abstract approaches to the problem of existence of critical points of a \(C^1\)-functional \(G\) defined on a Banach space \(E\). More precisely, he explains how one obtains a Cerami sequence for \(G\) in various settings. A Cerami sequence for \(G\) is a sequence \((u_n)\subseteq E\) such that, for some \(c\in\mathbb{R}\), \(G(u_n)\to c\) and \((1+\| u_n\| )\| G'(u_n)\| \to 0\). In relevant examples, this leads to the existence of a critical point of \(G\) with functional value \(c\). The use of Cerami sequences instead of Palais-Smale sequences poses no restrictions, but gives better results in the applications. At first, the author gives a brief review of his recent results on sandwich Pairs. Then he develops min-max theorems from an abstract point of view, and explains some applications to semilinear elliptic boundary value problems.