Of A Multiplicity Theorem For A Variable Exponent Dirichlet Problem
Of A Multiplicity Theorem For A Variable Exponent Dirichlet Problem
Of A Multiplicity Theorem For A Variable Exponent Dirichlet Problem
of
A Multiplicity Theorem for a Variable Exponent
Dirichlet Problem
Nikolaos S. Papageorgiou
Dept. of Mathematics, National Technical University, Athens, Greece
e-mail: npapg@math.ntua.gr
Eugénio M. Rocha
Dept. of Mathematics, University of Aveiro, Portugal
e-mail: eugenio@mat.ua.pt
1 Introduction
Let Z ⊆ RN be a bounded domain with a C 2 -boundary ∂Z. In this paper, we
study the existence of multiple nontrivial solutions for the Dirichlet problem
−∆p(z) x(z) = m(z)|x(z)|r−2 x(z) + f (z, x(z)) a.e. on Z,
(1)
x|∂Z = 0.
1
is measurable in z ∈ Z and continuous in x ∈ X). The differential oper-
ator −∆p(z) x = − div ||Dx||p(z)−2 Dx) , is called the p(·)-Laplacian. When
p(z) ≡ p (a constant), it becomes the usual p-Laplacian differential operator.
The goal of this paper, is to prove a ”three nontrivial solutions theorem“ for
problem (1).
Recently there have been some three solutions theorems for problems driven
by the regular p-Laplacian. We mention the works of Bartsch-Liu [3], Carl-
Perera [4], Guo-Liu [11], Liu [14], Liu-Liu [15], Papageorgiou-Papageorgiou [18],
Zhang-Chen-Li [21], and Zhang-Li [22]. In all these works, the Euler functional
of the problem is coercive. Here, the hypotheses on the nonlinearity f (z, x),
can incorporate in our framework of analysis problems with a noncoercive Euler
functional. Our method of proof, is variational based on critical point theory,
coupled with the use of ordered pairs of upper-lower solutions and with suitable
truncation techniques. We also use critical groups to distinguish between critical
points.
Multiplicity results for problems driven by variable p(·)-Laplacian, were
obtained recently by Fan-Zhang [8] and Zang [20], but under symmetry con-
ditions on the nonlinearity f (z, ·) (namely, they assumed that x 7→ f (z, x)
is an odd function). We should also mention the work of Mihailescu [17],
where the author considers a specific right hand side nonlinearity of the form
g(z, x) = A|x|
n
α−2
x+o B|x|
β−2
x with 1 < α < p− = minZ̄ p < p+ = maxZ̄ p <
−
β < min N, NN−p p
− and A, B > 0, and proves the existence of a λ∗ > 0
such that the problem has at least two distinct nontrivial weak solutions when
A, B ∈ (0, λ∗ ). Our multiplicity result here extends that of Mihailescu [17].
Differential equations and variational problems with p(·)-growth conditions
arise naturally in nonlinear elasticity theory and in the theory of electrorheo-
logical fluids. For details, we refer to Acerbi-Mingione [1] and Ruzička [19].
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we present some back-
ground material concerning variable exponent Lebesgue and Sobolev spaces. In
Section 3, we state our hypotheses on the data of problem (1) and we formulate
the main multiplicity result of this paper (the three nontrivial solutions theo-
rem). In Section 4, we establish the existence of two nontrivial smooth solutions
of constant sign. Finally, in Section 5, we prove the full multiplicity theorem.
2
H(f ): f : Z × R → R is a function such that f (z, 0) = 0 a.e. on Z and
f (z, x)
lim sup < +∞
x→0 |x|ϑ−2 x
The main result of this paper, asserts that problem (1) has at least three
nontrivial solutions. More precisely, we have:
Theorem 1 If hypotheses H(m) and H(f ) hold, then there exists λ∗0 > 0 such
that for 0 < ||m||∞ < λ∗0 , problem (1) has at least three distinct nontrivial
solutions
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