We study a Dirichlet problem, investigating existence and uniqueness for semipositone and superlinear nonlinearities. We make use of Pohozaev identities, energy arguments, and bifurcation from a simple eigenvalue.

We study positive solutions to classes of nonlinear elliptic singular problems of the form: -Δpu = λ g(u) uα in Ω u = 0 on δΩ where Ω is a bounded domain in ℝN, N ≥ 1 with smooth boundary δΩ, &lambda¸ is a positive parameter, α ∈(0; 1), Δpu := div(⌊∇u⌋p-2 ∇u); p > 1 is the p-Laplacian operator, and g is a smooth function. Such elliptic problems naturally arise in the study of steady state reaction diffusion processes. In particular, we will be interested in the challenging new class of problems when g(0) < 0 (hence lims→0+g(s) sα = - ∞ which we refer to as infinite semipositone problems. Our focus is on existence results. We obtain results for the single equation case as well as to the case of systems. We use the method of sub-super solutions to prove our results. The results in this dissertation provide a solid foundation for the analysis of such infinite semipositone problems.

The investigation of positive steady states to reaction diffusion models in bounded domains with Dirichlet boundary conditions has been of great interest since the 1960’s. We study reaction diffusion models where the reaction term is negative at the origin. In the literature, such problems are referred to as semipositone problems and have been studied for the last 30 years. In this dissertation, we extend the theory of semipositone problems to classes of singular semipositone problems where the reaction term has singularities at certain locations in the domain. In particular, we consider problems where the reaction term approaches negative infinity at these locations. We establish several existence results when the domain is a smooth bounded region or an exterior domain. Some uniqueness results are also obtained. Our existence results are achieved by the method of sub and super solutions, while our uniqueness results are proved by establishing a priori estimates and analyzing structural properties of the solution. We also extend many of our results to systems.

In this dissertation, we establish new existence, multiplicity, and uniqueness results on positive radial solutions for classes of steady state reaction diffusion equations on the exterior of a ball. In particular, for the first time in the literature, this thesis focuses on the study of solutions that satisfy a general class of nonlinear boundary conditions on the interior boundary while they approach zero at infinity (far away from the interior boundary). Such nonlinear boundary conditions occur naturally in various applications including models in the study of combustion theory. We restrict our analysis to reactions terms that grow slower than a linear function for large arguments. However, we allow all types of behavior of the reaction terms at the origin (cases when it is positive, zero, as well as negative). New results are also added to ecological systems with Dirichlet boundary conditions on the interior boundary (this is the case when the boundary is cold). We establish our existence and multiplicity results by the method of sub and super solutions and our uniqueness results via deriving a priori estimates for solutions.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:27:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1610.pdf: 953018 bytes, checksum: 71de779ec49ee3cef03c3060c45a97f3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-11-20 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / In this work, we will study the existence and nonexistence of positive weak solutions for two classes of elliptic systems with weights. The first class will involve nonlinearities of the type positone and semipositone. We will prove a strong maximum principle, and we will obtain some properties of the first eigenfunction of the eigenvalue problem associated to our operator, and also we will prove the sub and supersolution method. The second class will involve a nonlinear perturbation. We will use the variational methods to study the subcritical and critical situations, and under certain hypotheses, we will show the existence of a second weak solution. / Neste trabalho, estudaremos a existência e inexistência de solução fraca positiva para duas classes de sistemas elípticos com pesos. A primeira classe envolverá não linearidades do tipo positônico e semipositônico. Provaremos um princípio de máximo forte, e obteremos algumas propriedades da primeira autofunção do problema de autovalor associado ao nosso operador, e também provaremos o método de sub e supersolução. A segunda classe que consideraremos terá uma perturbação não linear. Usaremos os métodos variacionais para estudar tanto a situação subcrítica quanto à situação crítica, e sob certas hipóteses, mostraremos a existência de uma segunda solução fraca.