Singular Extremal Solutions on Thin Ellipsoids with Varying Nonlinearities

Abstract

Let $N=m+1$ and consider the thin ellipsoid \[ \Omega_\varepsilon=\{(y,x_N)\in\mathbb R^m\times\mathbb R:\ |y|^2+\varepsilon^{-2}x_N^2<1\}. \] We prove that in every sufficiently large dimension, for every sufficiently small $\varepsilon>0$, there exists a smooth positive, strictly increasing, strictly convex, superlinear nonlinearity $f_\varepsilon$ for which the extremal solution in $\Omega_\varepsilon$ is an unbounded $H^1_0$ solution. Combining this result with Dancer's thin-domain regularity theorem for the Gelfand nonlinearity $f(t)=e^t$, we obtain on the same sufficiently thin ellipsoids a bounded Gelfand extremal solution and an unbounded extremal solution for another nonlinearity. Thus, in this two-part sense, Br\'ezis' Open Problem~6.1 is resolved in every sufficiently large dimension.