Unbounded sets of solutions of non-cooperative elliptic systems on spheres (Q2351975)

The authors study non-cooperative elliptic systems of gradient type on the sphere \(S^{N-1}\) in the space \(\mathbb{R}^N\) involving Laplace-Beltrami differential operators. The main result states that all continua of weak solutions (in the Sobolev space \(H^1\) on the manifold) bifurcating from trivial solutions are unbounded, satisfying in this way the first alternative in the celebrated global bifurcation theorem by Rabinowitz. Moreover, bifurcating points giving rise to global symmetry-breaking are also identified. Two main cases should be distinguished depending on the signs in front of the differential operators. The main topological tool is a degree for \(\text{SO}(2)\)-invariant strongly indefinite functionals. An appendix concerning the Euler ring of \(\text{SO}(2)\) and some auxiliary topological tools used in the proofs is included at the end of the paper.