New York Journal of Mathematics New York J. Math. 6 (2000) 95{106. An Eigenvalue Problem for Elliptic Systems Marco Squassina Abstract. By means of non-smooth critical point theory we prove existence of weak solutions for a general nonlinear elliptic eigenvalue problem under natural growth conditions . Contents 1. Introduction 2. Recollections from non-smooth critical point theory 3. The Palais{Smale condition 4. Final remarks References 1. 95 98 100 104 106 Introduction Let be a bounded and open subset of R and N 1 . Existence and multiplicity results for quasilinear eigenvalue problems of the type : n 8 P P P ><; (a (x u) ki ) + 21 j >: k ==11 : : : N (u ) 2 M R=1 =1 n ij @ ij @x n @u @x ij N h on the submanifold of H01 ( R ) M N = u 2 H01 ( R ) : N @aij @ uk (x u) @ uh @ uh @ xi @xj = @G @ uk (x u) in Z G(x u) dx = 1 have been rstly studied in 1983 by M. Struwe 15] and recently by G. Arioli 1] via techniques of non-smooth critical point theory. The goal of this paper is to study the following more general eigenvalue problem (1) ;div(r L(x u ru)) + r L(x u ru) = r G(x u) (u ) 2 M R s s Received February 23, 2000. Mathematics Subject Classication. 35J50, 47J10, 58E05. Key words and phrases. Nonlinear eigenvalue problems, Non-smooth critical point theory. 95 ISSN 1076-9803/00 Marco Squassina 96 on the submanifold of W01 ( R ) p N Z M = u 2 W01 ( R ) : (2) p N G(x u) dx = 1 : 1 We shall consider functionals f : W0 ( R ) ! R dened by p N Z f (u) = L(x u ru) dx with 1 < p < n . In general, f is not even locally Lipschitzian unless L does not depend on u or n = 1, so that classical critical point theory fails. (3) To overcome this diculty, we shall use the non-smooth critical point theory developed in 8, 9, 10, 11, 12] and also the subdierential for continuous functions recently introduced in 6]. We shall prove that problem (1) admits a nontrivial weak solution in M R by restricting f to M and looking for constrained critical points . We assume that M 6= , that L : R R ! R is measurable in x for all (s ) 2 R R of class C 1 in (s ) for a.e. x 2 and L(x s ) is strictly convex. Moreover, we shall assume that: L1 ] There exist > 0 such that for each " > 0 there is a 2 L1() and b 2 R with (4) j j L(x s ) a (x) + "jsj + b j j for a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R , where p denotes the critical Sobolev's exponent. L2 ] There exists b 2 R such that for each " > 0 there exists a 2 L1 () with (5) jr L(x s )j a (x) + "jsj + bj j for a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R . Moreover there is a1 2 L 0 () with p jr L(x s )j a1 (x) + bjsj p0 + bj j ;1 (6) for a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R . L3 ] For a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R (7) r L(x s ) s 0 : N N nN nN " p p " N " p " nN " s p p " N nN p p N nN N nN s L4 ] If N > 1, there exists a bounded Lipschitz function : R ! R such that (8) r L(x s ) exp (r s) + r L(x s ) r exp (r s ) 0 for a.e. x 2 , for all 2 R , 2 f;1 1g and r s 2 R where (exp (r s)) := exp ( (r ) ; (s ))] and r exp (r s )] := ; exp ( (r ) ; (s ))] 0 (s ) for each h = 1 : : : N and i = 1 : : : n . s nN h hi N h h h N h h h h h h i An Eigenvalue Problem for Elliptic Systems 97 G1 ] G(x s) is measurable in x and of class C 1 in s with G(x 0) = 0npa.e. in . If g(x s) denotes r G(x s) for every " > 0 there exists a 2 L n p; p () such that (9) jg(x s)j a (x) + "jsj ;1 s ( " 1)+ p " for a.e. x 2 and all s 2 R . G2 ] For a.e. x 2 and for each s 6= 0 we have g(x s) s > 0 . Under the preceding assumptions, the following is our main result. Theorem 1. The eigenvalue problem (10) ;div(r L(x u ru)) + r L(x u ru) = g(x u) (u ) 2 M R has at least one nontrivial weak solution (u ) 2 M R . In the vectorial case (N > 1), to my knowledge, problem (1) has only been considered in 15] and in 1] in the particular case N s L(x s ) = 21 (11) X X n ij N =1 hk =1 a (x s) hk ij h i k j for coecients a : R ! R of the type a (x s) = (x s). In 15, Theorem 3.2] the statement is essentially of perturbative nature, since it says that if for each k 2 N there exists a % > 0 with (12) jr (x s)j < % for a:e: x 2 for all s 2 R then the problem has at least k distinct weak solutions: (u ) 2 H01 ( R ) R ` = 1 : : : k : In other words, the less the coecients (x s) vary in s, the more solutions we get. In 1] a new technical condition is introduced to be compared with (8). It is assumed that there exist K > 0 and an increasing bounded Lipschitz function from 0 +1 to 0 +1 with (0) = 0, 0 non-increasing, (s) ! K as s ! +1 and such that hk ij N 2 n hk ij hk ij k s ij N k ` N ` ij (13) X X @ 2e;4 0 (jsj) X (x s) ( x s ) =1 =1 @s =1 n N n ij i ij K j ij k k i j ij for a.e. x 2 , for all 2 R and for all r s 2 R . The proof itself of 2, Lemma 6.1] shows that this condition implies assumption (8) in the case of integrands L like (11). On the other hand, if N 2, the two conditions look quite similar. However, our condition (8) seems to be preferable, because when N = 1 and L is given by (11), it reduces to the inequality n N X @ (x s) 2 0(s) X (x s) =1 @s =1 n n ij i ij j ij ij i j Marco Squassina 98 which is not so restrictive in view of the ellipticity of , while (13) is in this case much stronger. For a general Lagrangian L, in the case N = 1, condition (8) reduces to jD L(x s )j 0 (s)r L(x s ) for a.e. x 2 and all (s ) 2 R R . This assumption has already been considered in literature in jumping problems (see e.g. 7]) . In Remarks 2 and 3 we will show examples of L not of the form (11) and satisfying (8). Finally, we point out that (13) and (8) are not easily comparable to (12). ij s n 2. Recollections from non-smooth critical point theory In this section, we want to recall the relationship between weak solutions to (1) and constrained critical points of f to M: Let a0 2 L1 (), b0 2 R, a1 2 L1 () and b1 2 L1 () be such that for a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R np (14) jL(x s )j a0 (x) + b0 jsj n;p + b0 j j N nN loc loc p np jr L(x s )j a1 (x) + b1 (x)jsj n;p + b1 (x)j j (15) p s np jr L(x s )j a1 (x) + b1 (x)jsj n;p + b1 (x)j j : Conditions (15) and (16) imply that for every u 2 W01 ( R ) we have r L(x u ru) 2 L1 ( R ) r L(x u ru) 2 L1 ( R ) : Therefore for every u 2 W01 ( R ) we have ;div (r L(x u ru)) + r L(x u ru) 2 D0 ( R ) : (16) p p nN p N s loc N loc N N s We shall now recall two denitions from 6], where a new notion of subdierential for continuous functionals on normed spaces has been recently introduced by M. Degiovanni and I. Campa. Denition 1. Let X be a real normed space and C X . For each u 2 C , we denote with T (u) the set of all v 2 X such that for each " > 0, there exist > 0 and : (B (u ) \ C ) ]0 ] ! B (v ") continuous with + t ( t) 2 C when 2 B (u ) \ C and t 2]0 . T (u) is said the cone tangent to C at u. Denition 2. For each u 2 X set @f (u) := f 2 X : ( ;1) 2 Nepi (u f (u))g where Nepi (u) := f 2 X : h vi 0 for all v 2 Tepi (u)g : @f (u) is said to be the subdierential of f at u. C C f f f An Eigenvalue Problem for Elliptic Systems 99 Via @f (u) we shall connect critical points for functionals of calculus of variations (3) constrained to M , with weak solutions to the related eigenvalue problem. Dene the submanifold of W01 ( R ) n o M = u 2 W01 ( R ) : (u) = 1 p N p N where : W01 ( R ) ! W ;1 0 ( R ) is of class C 1 M 6= 0 62 M and moreover r(u) 6= 0 for each u 2 M . We now recall the fundamental denition of weak slope (see, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]) . Denition 3. Let (X d) be a metric space, f : X ! R a continuous function and u 2 X . We denote by jdf j(u) the supremum of 2 0 +1 such that there exist > 0 and a continuous map H : B (u) 0 ] ;! X such that for all (v t) 2 B (u) 0 ] d(H(v t) v) t f (H(v t)) f (v) ; t: We say that the extended real number jdf j(u) is the weak slope of f at u. It is easy to prove that the map fu 7! jdf j(u)g is lower semicontinuous . Denition 4. Let (X d) be a metric space, f : X ! R a continuous function and u 2 X . We say that u is a critical point of f if jdf j(u) = 0 . Denition 5. Let (X d) be a metric space, c 2 R and f : X ! R a continuous function. A sequence (u ) X is said to be a Palais{Smale sequence at level c ((PS ) {sequence, in short) for f , if f (u ) ! c and jdf j(u ) ! 0 . We say that f satises the Palais{Smale condition ((PS ) in short) at level c if every (PS ) { sequence admits a convergent subsequence. We now come to the case when X = W01 ( R ) and f : W01 ( R ) ! R given by (3) . From (14) it follows that f is well dened and continuous. is metric space endowed with the metric of W01 ( R ) the weak slope dfSince (u)Mand the (PS ) {condition for fjM may of course be dened . jM Theorem 2. For every u 2 W01 ( R ) there exists 2 R such that df (u) sup rf (u)(v) ; r(u)(v) : v 2 C 1 ( R ) kvk 1 : 1 jM In particular, for each (PS ) {sequence (u ) for fjM there exists ( ) R such that lim sup rf (u )(v) ; r(u )(v) : v 2 C 1 ( R ) kvk1 1 = 0: p N p N h c h h c c p p N p N N c p N N p c c h h h h h h N c p Proof. By conditions (15) and (16), for every u 2 M and v 2 C 1( R ) there exists Z Z c N f 0 (u)(v) = r L(x u ru) rv dx + r L(x u ru) v dx and the function fu 7! f 0 (u)(v)g is continuous from M into R. Now, let us extend fjM to the functional f : W01 ( R ) ! R f+1g given by ( f (u) = f (u) if u 2 M (17) +1 if u 62 M: s p N Marco Squassina 100 We may assume that jdfjM j(u) < +1: Consequently jdf j(u) = jdfjM j(u) so that by 6, Theorem 4.13] there exists ! 2 @f (u) with jdf j(u) k!k;1 0 : Moreover, by 6, Corollary 5.4] we have @f (u) @f (u) + Rr(u) : Finally, by 6, Theorem 6.1], we get @f (u) = fg where p Z Z h vi = r L(x u ru) rv dx + r L(x u ru) v dx = rf (u)(v) for each v 2 C 1 ( R ) and the proof is complete. By the preceding result, each critical point u 2 W01 ( R ) of fjM is a weak s N c p N solution to the eigenvalue problem : rf (u) = r(u) (u ) 2 M R : 3. The Palais{Smale condition Recall rst a very useful conseguence of Brezis{Browder's Theorem 5]. Proposition 1. Let T 2 L1loc( R ) \ W ;1 0 ( R ), v 2 W01 ( R ) and 2 L1() with T v . Then T v 2 L1 () and N p hT vi = Proof. Argue as in 13, Lemma 3] . Z p N N T v dx As a consequence of assumption L1 ] and convexity of L(x s ), for each " > 0 there exists a 2 L1() such that (18) r L(x s ) j j ; a (x) ; "jsj for a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R . We now come to one of the main results of this paper, i.e., the local compactness property for (PS ) {sequences. Theorem 3. Let (u ) be a bounded sequence in W01 ( R ) and set " p N p " nN c Z Z h hw v i = (19) h p N r L(x u ru ) rv dx + r L(x u ru ) v dx h h s h h for all v 2 C 1 ( R ). If (w ) is strongly convergent to some w in W ;1 0 ( R ) then (u ) admits a strongly convergent subsequence in W01 ( R ). Proof. Since (u ) is bounded in W01 ( R ) we nd a u in W01 ( R ) such that, up to subsequences, ru * ru in L ( R ) u ! u in L ( R ) u (x) ! u(x) a:e: x 2 : By 4, Theorem 2.1], up to a subsequence, we have ru (x) ! ru(x) a:e: x 2 : Therefore, by (6) we get r L(x u ru ) * r L(x u ru) in L 0 ( R ): N c p h p N h p h p N p h p N h N h h h h p N nN N An Eigenvalue Problem for Elliptic Systems We now want to prove that we have Z hw ui = (20) 101 Z r L(x u ru) ru dx + r L(x u ru) u dx: s Let be as in L4 ] and test equation (19) with the following functions v = '(1 expf1 ( (u1 ) ; (u1 ))g : : : expf ( (u ) ; (u ))g) where ' 2 C 1 (), ' 0 and = 1 for all i = 1 : : : N . By direct computation we obtain for a.e. x 2 D v = ( D ' + ( 0 (u )D u ; 0 (u )D u )') exp ( (u ) ; (u ))] for each i = 1 : : : N and j = 1 : : : n. Therefore, with the notation expf( (u) ; (u ))g 0 (u )ru ] := expf ( (u ) ; (u ))g 0 (u )D u for each i = 1 : : : N and j = 1 : : : n, we get h hi i j i h Z N N N h i c j N h j i h hi j h ij hi i i i i hi hi hi j hi r L(x u ru ) r' + 0 (u)ru'] expf( (u) ; (u ))g dx ; hw ' expf( (u) ; (u ))gi Z n + r L(x u ru ) expf( (u) ; (u ))g dx h h h h h s h h o h ; r L(x u ru ) expf( (u) ; (u ))g 0 (u )ru ' dx = 0 : Observe that if v = (1 ' : : : ') we have lim hw ' expf( (u) ; (u ))gi = hw vi: Since u * u in W01 ( R ), we have Z lim r L(x u ru ) r' + 0 (u)ru'] expf( (u) ; (u ))g dx h h h h h N p h h h h h h N Z Z h h r L(x u ru) rv dx + r L(x u ru) 0 (u)ru' dx: Note now that by assumption (8) for each h 2 N we have r L(x u ru ) expf( (u) ; (u ))g ; r L(x u ru ) expf( (u) ; (u ))g 0 (u )ru 0: = s h h h h h h h h Therefore, Fatou's Lemma implies that lim sup (Z r L(x u ru ) expf( (u) ; (u ))g' dx s h h h Z h ; r L(x u ru ) expf( (u) ; (u ))g 0 (u )ru ' dx Z h h Z h h r L(x u ru) v dx ; r L(x u ru) 0 (u)ru' dx: s Combining the previous inequalities we get Z h Z r L(x u ru) rv dx + r L(x u ru) v dx hw vi ) s Marco Squassina 102 for each v = (1 ' : : : ') with ' 2 C 1 () ' with ;v, we obtain N Z (21) 0: Since we may exchange v c Z r L(x u ru) rv dx + r L(x u ru) v dx = hw vi: s for each v = (1 ' : : : ') with ' 2 C 1 () and ' 0. Since each v 2 C 1 ( R ) is a linear combination of such functions, taking into account Proposition 1, we obtain relation (20). The nal step is to prove that (u ) goes to u in W01 ( R ): To this aim, let us rst get the following inequality N c N c h p N (22) lim sup Z h r L(x u ru ) ru dx h h h Because of (7) Fatou's Lemma yields Z (23) Z r L(x u ru) u dx lim inf s Z h r L(x u ru) ru dx : r L(x u ru ) u dx : s h h h Combining this fact with (20) and taking into account that hw u i ! hw ui as h ! +1 we deduce h lim sup h Z h r L(x u ru ) ru dx h h h Z = lim sup ; Z h r L(x u ru ) u dx + hw u i s h h h ; r L(x u ru) u dx + hw ui = Z s h r L(x u ru) ru dx : In particular, again by Fatou's Lemma, we have Z Z r L(x u ru) ru dx lim inf r L(x u ru ) ru dx Z h h h h lim sup r L(x u ru ) ru dx that is lim h Z Z h h h h h h r L(x u ru) ru dx r L(x u ru ) ru dx = Z h r L(x u ru) ru dx which gives convergence in L1(). Therefore, by (18) we conclude that : lim h Z jru j dx = h p Z jruj dx p which gives convergence of (u ) to u in W01 ( R ) . p h N h An Eigenvalue Problem for Elliptic Systems 103 Corollary 1. Let (u ) be a bounded sequence in W01 ( R ) ( ) a sequence in R and set for all v 2 C 1 ( R ) Z Z h w vi = r L(x u ru ) rv dx + r L(x u ru ) v dx : 0 ; 1 If (w ) converges to some w = 6 0 in W ( R ) then (u ) admits a strongly convergent subsequence in W01 ( R ) R: Proof. By density, we can nd 2 C 1( R ) such that lim hw i = hw i > 0: p h c h h h h s p h p h N h h h N h h Since of course the sequence h N c Z N N Z r L(x u ru ) r dx + r L(x u ru ) dx h h s h h is bounded, ( ) is also bounded and the assertion follows by Theorem 3. In the next result we prove that f satises (PS ) {condition. Lemma 1. Let c 2 R . Then, for each (PS ) {sequence (u ) for fjM there exists u 2 M and 2 R such that, up to subsequences, u ! u in W01 ( R ) and ! in R: In particular, we have h c c Z h h p h Z N Z r L(x u ru) rv dx + r L(x u ru) v dx = g(x u) v dx for each v 2 C 1 ( R ): Proof. Let (u ) be a (PS ) {sequence for fjM : Since by (4) (u ) is bounded in W01 ( R ), up to a subsequence (u ) weakly goes to a u 2 M . Moreover,0 since by G1 ], g is completely continuous as mapping from W01 ( R ) to W ;1 ( R ), s N c h p c h N h p N p N up to a further subsequence, we have g(x u ) ! g(x u) in W ;1 0 (): Now, by Theorem 2, there exists a sequence ( ) R with p h sup nZ r L(x u ru ) rv dx + h ; h Z h Z h r L(x u ru ) v dx s h h o g(x u ) v dx : v 2 C 1 ( R ) kvk1 1 ! 0 N h p c as h ! +1: Hence, by applying Corollary 1 to w = g(x u ) + ! 0 in W ;1 0 ( R ) up to subsequences (u ) converges to (u ) in W01 ( R ) R: We may now prove the main result of this paper. Proof of Theorem 1. By assumption G2] and G(x 0) = 0 we easily see that 0 62 M and g(x u) 6 0 for each u 2 M . Since f is bounded from below, there exists a (PS ) {sequence (u ) for fjM at the level c = inf f (u) : 2 h h h p h p h c h h u M N N Marco Squassina 104 Indeed, let (u ) a sequence of minimizers for f in M . Of course we have f (u ) ! c. Moreover, if jdf j(u ) 6! 0 we would nd a > 0 such that jdf j(u ) . Then by 8, Theorem 1.1.11] there exists a continuous deformation : M 0 ] ! M for some > 0 such that for all t 2 0 ] and h 2 N f ((u t)) f (u ) ; t : This easily yields the contradiction f ((u t)) < c for suciently large values of h 2 N . Thus (u ) is a (PS ) {sequence for fjM . Lemma 1 now provides a weak solution (u ) 2 M R to (1). Of course u 6 0 . h h h h h h h h 4. c Final remarks We refer the reader to 2] for some concrete examples where the condition (8) is fullled for an integrand L like (11) . Remark 1. Assume that there exists R > 0 such that jsj R =) r L(x s ) = 0 for a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R and X 1 r L(x s ) jsj R =) jD k L(x s )j 4eR =1 for a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R . Then (8) holds for a dened by ( (24) (s) = 41 if 0 s R 4 if s R : Indeed, (8) is implied by the following condition: There exist K > 0 and an increasing bounded Lipschitz function : 0 +1! 0 +1 with (0) = 0, 0 non-increasing, (t) ! K as t ! +1 and such that s N nN N s k N nN s R (25) X N k =1 jD k L(x s )j e;4 0 (jsj)r L(x s ) K s for a.e. x 2 , for all 2 R and for all r s 2 R . It is easy to verify that the dened in (24) satises (25) . We now exhibit an example of L satisfying (8) and not of quadratic type. Remark 2. Let L : R R ! R be dened by p p L(x s ) = 1p ( + arctan jsj2 )j j e N ( 3 + ) n N N nN p for a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R . By following 2, Example 9.2] it is possible to show that there exist K > 0 and an increasing bounded Lipschitz function : 0 +1! 0 +1 with (0) = 0, 0 non-increasing, (s) ! K as s ! +1 given by p 4 (3 = s if s 2 0 3;1 4] p4 (s) = Ne R 3 ;1 4 +1 4 + 3; = 1+ d if s 2 3 N K nN 3 4 = s 1 4 4 = An Eigenvalue Problem for Elliptic Systems 105 such that L satises (25). Therefore (8) is fullled. Remark 3. Since condition (8) does not look very nice and it is not clear how to describe the class of systems that satisfy this assumption, it seems natural to look for some classes of quasilinear systems with a more particular structure but requiring a simpler hypothesis . To this aim, consider the eigenvalue problem 8> ; 1 0 ;2 < ;div .A1(u1)jru1 j . ru1. + A1(u1)jr. u1j = g1(x u) .. .. .. >: ; .. 1 ;div A (u )jru j ;2 ru + A0 (u )jru j = g (x u) p p (26) p N N N p N p N N N p N in in : In a variational setting, the weak solutions u = (u1 u ) of (26) are the critical points of f j where f : W01 ( R ) ! R is given by N M p N XZ 1 f (u ) = p A (u )jru j dx : N k k =1 k k p and M is as in (2). Consider the following assumptions (k = 1 : : : N ): A1 ] A 2 C 1 (R) with a A a for some a a > 0 A2 ] A0 (s)s 0 for each s 2 R A3 ] there exists a bounded Lipschitz function : R ! R such that k k k k k k k (27) A (s)e; ( ( ); ( )) A (t) A (s)e ( ( ); ( )) for each s t 2 R with s t . k p t s k p t k s Under the previous assumptions, by exploiting the proof of Theorem 3 it is possible to see that for system (26) assumption (8) may be replaced by (27). Indeed, (27) immediately implies that 8k = 1 : : : N 8s 2 R : jA0 (s)j pA (s) 0 (s) : Of course (27) looks much simpler and more understandable. In some sense, this condition says that for each s 2 R and k xed, A (t) must remain within the \exponential cone" determined by k k k n o o n t 7! A (s)e; ( ( ); ( )) and t 7! A (s)e ( ( ); ( )) k p t s k p t s for each t s . Remark 4. Condition (8) in only needed when N > 1, since in the case N = 1 Theorem 3 may be substituted by 14, Theorem 3.4] where no condition like (8) is requested in order to get the compactness property of (PS ) {sequences . Secondly, we remark that in the case N = 1 condition (7) can be assumed only for large values of jsj, that is, there exists R > 0 such that (28) jsj R =) D L(x s ) s 0 c s for a.e. x 2 and for all (s ) 2 R R N nN (see again 14, Theorem 3.4]) . 106 Marco Squassina References 1] G. Arioli, A note on quasilinear elliptic eigenvalue problems , Electron. J. Di. Eqns. 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