A symmetry theorem and applications to nonlinear partial differential equations (Q1116443)

The authors study symmetry properties of solutions of nonlinear differential equations of the form \[ (*)\quad Lu=f(x,u) \] on a domain \(\Omega\) in \({\mathbb{R}}^ n\) with Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions. First, a new general symmetry theorem for equations in \(L_ 2(\Omega)\) is given. It is supposed that the linear normal operator L in \(L_ 2(\Omega)\) possesses an invariant subspace \(H_ 1\), which is invariant also for the nonlinearity f. It is proved that under certain further assumptions, any solution of (*) lies in \(H_ 1\). \((H_ 1\) is a set of functions satisfying some symmetry condition in applications.) Nonconvex and unbounded domains are allowed. This result is applied to examples of ordinary, partial, elliptic parabolic and hyperbolic differential equations. Further, a counterexample to a previous conjecture of the authors on the number of solutions of a semilinear elliptic boundary value problem is given.