Nodal solutions for the Choquard equation

Abstract

We consider the general Choquard equations $$ -\Delta u + u = (I_\alpha \ast |u|^p) |u|^{p - 2} u $$ where $I_\alpha$ is a Riesz potential. We construct minimal action odd solutions for $p \in (\frac{N + \alpha}{N}, \frac{N + \alpha}{N - 2})$ and minimal action nodal solutions for $p \in (2,\frac{N + \alpha}{N - 2})$. We introduce a new minimax principle for least action nodal solutions and we develop new concentration-compactness lemmas for sign-changing Palais--Smale sequences. The nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, which is the nonlocal counterpart of the Choquard equation, does not have such solutions.