A Dirichlet problem for an H-system with variable H

Variational methods for elliptic systems (35J50) Existence of optimal solutions to problems involving randomness (49J55) Minimal surfaces in differential geometry, surfaces with prescribed mean curvature (53A10)

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The authors are concerned with multiplicity results for the Dirichlet problem of the elliptic system (1) \(\Delta X= 2H(X)X_ u\land X_ v\) on the unit disc \(B\) in the \((u,v)\)-plane, where \(X= X(u,v)\) has values in \(\mathbb{R}^ 3\) and \(\land\) denotes the vector produt in \(\mathbb{R}^ 3\). The interest in this problem stems from the fact that (1) is the equation for a conformal parametric representation of a surface in \(\mathbb{R}^ 3\) which has the mean curvature \(H(x)\) in any point \(x\) of the surface. One should also notice that (1) are the Euler-Lagrange equations of the functional \(D_ H(X)= \int({1\over 2}|\Delta X|^ 2+ {1\over 3} Q(X)X_ u \land X_ v)du dv\), where \(\text{div }Q= 3H\). For the case \(H=\text{const}\) Brézis-Coron and Struwe showed by a minimax technique that, provided \(D_ H\) possesses a local minimum on the affine Sobolev space \(g+ H^ 1_{2,0}(B)\) (which is the case for suitable \(g\)), there exists a further critical point, thereby proving the existence of at least two solutions of (1) with boundary data \(g\). Various authors (most recently \textit{N. Jakobosky}, to appear in J. Reine Angew. Math.) have generalized this result to the case of a variable curvature function \(H= H(x)\), requiring that \(H\) is not far from a constant with respect to a suitable norm. In the present paper, the authors treat constant boundary data \(g\) and special types or curvature functions \(H\) not necessarily close to a constant for which the existence of a second solution to the Dirichlet problem can also be obtained. Essentially, their examples of curvatures functions are smooth approximations of the characteristic function of a cube or a cylinder. Like in the other papers on the subject their method of proof consists in a suitable variant of the mountain pass theorem.

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