Liouville-type theorems, radial symmetry and integral representation of solutions to Hardy-H\'enon equations involving higher order fractional Laplacians

Abstract

We study nonnegative solutions to the following Hardy-H\'enon type equations involving higher order fractional Laplacians $$ (-\Delta)^\sigma u = |x|^{-\alpha}u^{p} ~~~~~~ \mbox{in} ~ \mathbb{R}^n \backslash \{0\} $$ with a possible singularity at the origin, where $\sigma$ is a real number satisfying $0 < \sigma < n/2$, $-\infty < \alpha < 2\sigma$ and $p>1$. By a more direct approach without using the super poly-harmonic properties, we establish an integral representation for nonnegative solutions to the above higher order fractional equations whether the singularity $\{0\}$ is removable or not. As the first application, we prove an optimal Liouville-type theorem for the above equations with removable singularity for all $\sigma \in (0, n/2)$ when $$ 1 < p < p_{\sigma,\alpha}^*:=\frac{n+2\sigma -2\alpha}{n-2\sigma} ~~~ \mbox{and} ~~~ -\infty < \alpha < 2\sigma. $$ This, in particular, covers a gap occurring for non-integral $\sigma \in (1, n/2)$ and $\alpha \in (0, 2\sigma)$ in the current literature. As the second application, we show the radial symmetry of solutions in the critical case or in the case when the origin is a non-removable singularity. Such radial symmetry would be useful in studying the singular Yamabe-type problems.