Positive solutions for nonlinear discrete periodic boundary value problems (Q980325)

The article deals with the following boundary value problem \[ -\Delta[p(t - 1)\Delta u(t - 1)] + q(t)u(t) = rg(t)f(u(t)), \quad t \in [1,T]_{\mathbb Z}, \] \[ u(0) = u(T), \quad p(0)\Delta u(0) = p(T)\Delta u(T), \] where \(r\) is a positive parameter, \(T > 2\), \(f \in C({\mathbb R},{\mathbb R})\), \(sf(s) > 0\) for \(s \neq 0\) and there exist the limits \[ f_0 = \lim_{|s| \to 0} \;\frac{f(s)}{s}, \qquad f_\infty = \lim_{|s| \to \infty} \;\frac{f(s)}{s}, \] \(p, g: \;{\mathbb Z} \to (0,\infty)\) and \(q: \;{\mathbb Z} \to [0,\infty)\), \(q \not\equiv 0\), are \(T\)-periodic. The main result is the following: The boundary value problem under consideration has two \(T\)-periodic solutions \(u^+\) and \(u^-\), \(u^+(t) > 0\) and \(u^-(t) < 0\) for \(t \in (0,T)\), provided that either \(\lambda_1 / f_\infty < r < \lambda_1 / f_0\) or \(\lambda_1 / f_0 < r < \lambda_1 / f_\infty\), where \(\lambda_1\) is the first eigenvalue of the linear eigenvalue problem \[ -\Delta[p(t - 1)\Delta u(t - 1)] + q(t)u(t) = rg(t)u(t), \quad t \in [1,T]_{\mathbb Z}, \] \[ u(0) = u(T), \quad p(0)\Delta u(0) = p(T)\Delta u(T). \]