Existence and multiplicity of solutions of some conservative pendulum-type equations with homogeneous Dirichlet conditions (Q1979023)

The authors study the problem \[ -u''(x) -u(x) +g(u(x))=h(x), \quad x\in [0,\pi ], \qquad u(0)=u(\pi)=0,\tag{1} \] where \(g: \mathbb R\to \mathbb R\) is a \(T\)-periodic continuous function with zero mean value, \(h\in C([0,\pi ])\). The right hand-side can be written as \(h(x)=a \sin x +\widetilde {h}(x)\) with \[ \int _0^\pi \widetilde {h}(x) \sin x dx=0. \tag{2} \] The authors show that for any \(\widetilde {h}\in C([0,\pi ])\) satisfying (2) there exist numbers \(a_1(\widetilde {h})\leq 0\leq a_2(\widetilde {h})\) depending continuously on \(\widetilde {h}\) such that a solution (1) exists if and only if \(a\in [a_1(\widetilde {h}),a_2(\widetilde {h})]\). Moreover, they show that the number of solutions increases to infinity as \(a\) goes to zero and for \(a=0\) (1) has infinitely many solutions. Further, it is proved in the paper that if \(g\not \equiv 0\) then \(a_1(\widetilde {h})<0<a_2(\widetilde {h})\) for any \(\widetilde {h}\in C([0,\pi ])\) satisfying (2).