Classification of radial blow-up at the first critical exponent for the Lin-Ni-Takagi problem in the ball

Abstract

We investigate the behaviour of radial solutions to the Lin-Ni-Takagi problem in the ball $B_R \subset \mathbb{R}^N$ for $N \ge 3$: \begin{equation*} \left \{ \begin{aligned} - \triangle u_p + u_p & = |u_p|^{p-2}u_p & \textrm{ in } B_R, \\ \partial_\nu u_p & = 0 & \textrm{ on } \partial B_R, \end{aligned} \right. \end{equation*} when $p $ is close to the first critical Sobolev exponent $2^* = \frac{2N}{N-2}$. We obtain a complete classification of finite energy radial smooth blowing up solutions to this problem. We describe the conditions preventing blow-up as $p \to 2^*$, we give the necessary conditions in order for blow-up to occur and we establish their sharpness by constructing examples of blowing up sequences. Our approach allows for asymptotically supercritical values of $p$. We show in particular that, if $p \geq 2^\ast$, finite-energy radial solutions are precompact in $C^2(\bar{B_R})$ provided that $N\geq 7$. Sufficient conditions are also given in smaller dimensions if $p=2^\ast$. Finally we compare and interpret our results to the bifurcation analysis of Bonheure, Grumiau and Troestler in Nonlinear Anal. 147 (2016).