Ground state alternative for p-Laplacian with potential term

Publication date: 2 November 2005

Abstract: Let

O m e g a

be a domain in

m a t h b b R^{d}

,

d g e q 2

, and

1 < p < i n f t y

. Fix

V i n L_{m a t h r m l o c}^{i} n f t y (O m e g a)

. Consider the functional

Q

and its G^{a}teaux derivative

Q^{p} r i m e

given by

Q(u):=int_Omega (|

abla u|^p+V|u|^p)dx, frac{1}{p}Q^prime (u):=- ablacdot(| abla u|^{p-2}

abla u)+V|u|^{p-2}u.

If

Q g e 0

on

C_{0}^{i n f t y} (O m e g a)

, then either there is a positive continuous function

W

such that

i n t W | u |^{p} m a t h r m d x l e q Q (u)

for all

u i n C_{0}^{i n f t y} (O m e g a)

, or there is a sequence

u_{k} i n C_{0}^{i n f t y} (O m e g a)

and a function

v > 0

satisfying

Q^{p} r i m e (v) = 0

, such that

Q (u_{k}) o 0

, and

u_{k} o v

in

L_{m}^{p} a t h r m l o c (O m e g a

). In the latter case,

v

is (up to a multiplicative constant) the unique positive supersolution of the equation

Q^{p} r i m e (u) = 0

in

O m e g a

, and one has for

Q

an inequality of Poincar'e type: there exists a positive continuous function

W

such that for every

p s i i n C_{0}^{i} n f t y (O m e g a)

satisfying

i n t p s i v m a t h r m d x e q 0

there exists a constant

C > 0

such that

C^{- 1} i n t W | u |^{p} m a t h r m d x l e Q (u) + C | i n t u p s i m a t h r m d x |^{p}

for all

u i n C_{0}^{i} n f t y (O m e g a)

. As a consequence, we prove positivity properties for the quasilinear operator

Q^{p} r i m e

that are known to hold for general subcritical resp. critical second-order linear elliptic operators.

This page was built for publication: Ground state alternative for p-Laplacian with potential term