On the uniqueness of solutions of a semilinear equation in an annulus

Abstract

We establish the uniqueness of positive radial solutions of $$\begin{cases} \Delta u +f(u)=0,\quad x\in A \\ u(x) =0 \quad x\in \partial A \end{cases} $$ where $A:=A_{a,b}=\{ x\in {\mathbb R}^n : a<|x|<b \}$, $0<a<b\le\infty$. We assume that the nonlinearity $f\in C[0,\infty)\cap C^1(0,\infty)$ is such that $f(0)=0$ and satisfies some convexity and growth conditions, and either $f(s)>0$ for all $s>0$, or has one zero at $B>0$, is non positive and not identically 0 in $(0,B)$ and it is positive in $(B,\infty)$.