Remarks on the antimaximum principle

Abstract

We present several observations on the antimaximum principle (AMP) for the model problem $-Δ_p u = λ|u|^{p-2} u + f$ in a bounded smooth domain $Ω$, subject to the zero Dirichlet boundary conditions, and where the source function $f$ is nontrivial, nonnegative, and sufficiently regular. Denote by $λ_f$ the endpoint of validity of the AMP, so that every solution of the problem is negative in $Ω$ for any $λ\in (λ_1,λ_f)$. Our discussion covers the following aspects: identification of a class of sources over which the AMP is uniform, lower semicontinuity of the map $f \mapsto λ_f$, bounds on $λ_f$, the nonexistence of negative solutions for sufficiently large $λ$ (extended AMP), the anticomparison principle, and the weakening of the source regularity from the Lebesgue to Morrey spaces. Some of the results are stated only in the linear case $p=2$. As a part of the discussion, we provide a few related open problems.