Exact number of solutions of stationary reaction-diffusion equations (Q972173)

The authors discuss the existence of solutions with a flat core and the exact number of positive solutions of the \(p\)-Laplacian problem \[ \begin{cases} \lambda(| u'|^{p-2}u')'+f(u)=0, \quad 0<t<1\\ u(0)=u(1)=0, \end{cases} \] where \(\lambda\) is a positive parameter, \(p>1,\) the nonlinearity \(f\) is continuous, positive, satisfies \(f(0)=f(1)=0,\) the condition \(\lim_{s\to1^-}\frac{f(s)}{(1-s)^\theta}=\omega>0\), where \(\theta\in(0,p-1),\) as well as some further monotonicity assumptions. The behavior of the solution near \(s=0\) is also considered. The proofs use a shooting method and the results depend heavily on the asymptotic behavior of \(\int_0^a(F(a)-F(u))^{-\frac{1}{p}}du\), where \(F(u)=\int_0^uf(t)dt.\) As an application, a Dirichlet problem for a quasilinear elliptic equation with singular weights is studied.