Multiple solutions of Kazdan-Warner equation on graphs in the negative case

Abstract

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a finite connected graph, and let $\kappa: V\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ be a function such that $\int_V\kappa d\mu<0$. We consider the following Kazdan-Warner equation on $G$:\[\Delta u+\kappa-K_\lambda e^{2u}=0,\] where $K_\lambda=K+\lambda$ and $K: V\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ is a non-constant function satisfying $\max_{x\in V}K(x)=0$ and $\lambda\in \mathbb{R}$. By a variational method, we prove that there exists a $\lambda^*>0$ such that when $\lambda\in(-\infty,\lambda^*]$ the above equation has solutions, and has no solution when $\lambda\geq \lambda^\ast$. In particular, it has only one solution if $\lambda\leq 0$; at least two distinct solutions if $0<\lambda<\lambda^*$; at least one solution if $\lambda=\lambda^\ast$. This result complements earlier work of Grigor'yan-Lin-Yang \cite{GLY16}, and is viewed as a discrete analog of that of Ding-Liu \cite{DL95} and Yang-Zhu \cite{YZ19} on manifolds.