Hindawi Publishing Corporation Boundary Value Problems Volume 2008, Article ID 194234, 8 pages doi:10.1155/2008/194234 Research Article Existence and Uniqueness of Solutions for Boundary Value Problems to the Singular One-Dimension p-Laplacian Xiaoning Lin,1 Weizhi Sun,2 and Daqing Jiang3 1 School of Business, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China Department of Mathematics, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022, China 3 School of Mathematics and Statistics, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China 2 Correspondence should be addressed to Xiaoning Lin, linxiaoning@126.com Received 26 June 2007; Accepted 29 January 2008 Recommended by Kanishka Perera In this paper, We study the existence and uniqueness of solutions for boundary value problems to the singular one-dimension p-Laplacian by using mixed monotone method. Our results improve several recent results established in the literature. Copyright q 2008 Xiaoning Lin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1. Introduction In this paper, we discuss the existence and uniqueness of solution to the boundary value problem φ x λqtfx 0, t ∈ 0, 1, λ > 0, 1.1 x0 x1 0, where φs |s|p−2 s, p > 1, and f may be singular at x 0. By a solution x to 1.1 we mean a function x ∈ C1 0, 1, φx ∈ AC0, 1 such that x satisfies 1.1 and the boundary condition; here AC0, 1 denotes the space of absolutely continuous functions defined on 0, 1. It is of interest to note here that the existence of positive solutions to problem 1.1 has been studied in great detail in the literature, see 1–10. However, there are few works on the uniqueness of solutions for boundary problems to the singular one-dimension p-Laplacian. In this paper, we present a new existence and uniqueness theory by using mixed monotone method which has been used in 11, 12. 2 Boundary Value Problems 2. Preliminaries Let E C0, 1, with the norm u maxt∈0,1 |ut|, so E is a Banach space. Also, we define P {u ∈ E : u is concave on 0, 1 and u0 u1 0}. 2.1 One may readily verify that P is a cone in E. e ∈ P , with e ≤ 1, e / θ. Define Qe {x ∈ P | x / θ, there exist constants m, M > 0 such that m e ≤ x ≤ Me}. 2.2 Now we give a definition see 13. Definition 2.1. Assume A : Qe × Qe → Qe . A is said to be mixed monotone if Ax, y is nondecreasing in x and nonincreasing in y, that is, if x1 ≤ x2 x1 , x2 ∈ Qe implies Ax1 , y ≤ Ax2 , y for any y ∈ Qe , and y1 ≤ y2 y1 , y2 ∈ Qe implies Ax, y1 ≥ Ax, y2 for any x ∈ Qe . x∗ ∈ Qe is said to be a fixed point of A if Ax∗ , x∗ x∗ . Theorem 2.2 see 11. Suppose that A : Qe × Qe → Qe is a mixed monotone operator and there exists a constant β, 0 ≤ β < 1 such that 1 A tx, y ≥ tβ Ax, y, t ∀x, y ∈ Qe , 0 < t < 1. 2.3 Then A has a unique fixed point x∗ ∈ Qe . Moreover, for any x0 , y0 ∈ Qe × Qe , xn A xn−1 , yn−1 , yn A yn−1 , xn−1 , n 1, 2, . . . , 2.4 satisfy xn −→ x∗ , yn −→ x∗ , 2.5 yn − x ∗ o 1 − r β n , 2.6 where xn − x ∗ o 1 − r β n , 0 < r < 1, r is a constant from x0 , y0 . Theorem 2.3 see 11, 13. Suppose that A : Qe × Qe → Qe is a mixed monotone operator and there exists a constant β ∈ 0, 1 such that 2.3 holds. If xλ∗ is a unique solution of equation Ax, x λx λ > 0 2.7 in Qe , then xλ∗ − xλ∗ 0 → 0, λ → λ0 . If 0 < β < 1/2, then 0 < λ1 < λ2 implies xλ∗ 1 ≥ xλ∗ 2 , xλ∗ 1 / xλ∗ 2 , and lim xλ∗ 0, λ→∞ lim xλ∗ ∞. λ→0 2.8 Xiaoning Lin et al. 3 3. Existence and uniqueness In this section, we discuss the singular one-dimension p-Laplacian qtfx 0, φ x t ∈ 0, 1, 3.1 x0 x1 0. Throughout this section we assume that fx gx hx, 3.2 where g : 0, ∞ −→ 0, ∞ is continuous and nondecreasing ; h : 0, ∞ −→ 0, ∞ is continuous and nonincreasing . 3.3 Theorem 3.1. Suppose that there exists α ∈ 0, p − 1 such that 3.4 gtx ≥ tα gx, h t−1 x ≥ tα hx, 3.5 for any t ∈ 0, 1 and x > 0, and q ∈ C0, 1, 0, ∞ satisfies 1 t−α 1 − t−α qtdt < ∞, 0 < α < p − 1. 3.6 0 Then 3.1 has a unique positive solution xλ∗ t. And moreover, 0 < λ1 < λ2 implies that xλ∗ 1 ≤ xλ∗ 2 , xλ∗ 1 / xλ∗ 2 . If α/p − 1 ∈ 0, 1/2, then lim xλ∗ 0, lim xλ∗ ∞. λ→0 Lemma 3.2. Let u, v be solutions to λqtt−α 1 − t−α 0, φ u 3.7 λ→∞ t ∈ 0, 1, λ > 0, qtt−α 1 − t−α ∈ L1 0, 1, u0 u1 0, φ v λqttα 1 − tα 0, t ∈ 0, 1, λ > 0, qttα 1 − tα ∈ L1 0, 1, 3.8 v0 v1 0, then there exist positive constants Cu , Cv such that t1 − tu ≤ ut ≤ Cu t1 − t, t1 − tv ≤ vt ≤ Cv t1 − t. 3.9 Proof. Because qtt−α 1 − t−α qttα 1 − tα ≥ 0, then u, v is concave and positive on 0, 1. As u, v ∈ C1 0, 1, thus lim t→0 ut u 0, t lim t→1 ut −u 1, 1−t lim t→0 vt v 0, t lim t→1 vt −v 1. 1−t 3.10 4 Boundary Value Problems Let ut , t∈0,1 t1 − t vt , t∈0,1 t1 − t Cu sup Cv sup 3.11 ut ≤ Cu t1 − t, vt ≤ Cv t1 − t. 3.12 ut ≥ t1 − tu, vt ≥ t1 − tv. 3.13 t1 − tv ≤ vt ≤ Cv t1 − t. 3.14 then 0 < Cu , Cv < ∞, and Since u, v is concave, then So we have t1 − tu ≤ ut ≤ Cu t1 − t, Lemma 3.3 see 7. If u, v ∈ C1 0, 1 satisfies − φ u ≥ − φ v , u0 ≥ v0, a.e. t ∈ 0, 1, u1 ≥ v1, 3.15 then ut ≥ vt for all t ∈ 0, 1. Proof of Theorem 3.1. Since 3.5 holds, let t−1 x y, one has hy ≥ tα hty. 3.16 Then hty ≤ 1 hy, tα ∀t ∈ 0, 1, y > 0. 3.17 Let y 1. The above inequality is ht ≤ 1 h1, tα ∀t ∈ 0, 1. 3.18 From 3.5, 3.17, and 3.18, one has h t−1 x ≥ tα hx, 1 ≥ tα h1, h t htx ≤ 1 hx, tα ht ≤ 1 h1, tα t ∈ 0, 1, x > 0. 3.19 Similarly, from 3.4, one has gtx ≥ tα gx, gt ≥ tα g1, t ∈ 0, 1, x > 0. 3.20 Xiaoning Lin et al. 5 Let t 1/x, x > 1, one has gx ≤ xα g1, x ≥ 1. 3.21 Let et t1 − t, and we define 1 Qe x ∈ C0, 1 | t1 − t ≤ xt ≤ Mt1 − t, t ∈ 0, 1 , M 3.22 where M > 1 is chosen such that p−1/p−1−α 1/p−1−α −1/p−1−α , v−p−1/p−1−α g1 h1 M > max Cu g1 h1 . 3.23 For any fixed x, y ∈ Qe ,consider the following boundary value problem: φ w t λqt g xt h yt 0, t ∈ 0, 1, λ > 0; w0 w1 0. 3.24 By 3.18–3.21, for x, y ∈ Qe , we can obtain g xt ≤ g Mt1 − t ≤ gM ≤ Mα g1, t ∈ 0, 1, 1 1 h yt ≤ h t1 − t ≤ t−α 1 − t−α h M M ≤ Mα t−α 1 − t−α h1, 3.25 t ∈ 0, 1. So, g xt h yt ≤ Mα g1 t−α 1 − t−α h1 ≤ Mα t−α 1 − t−α g1 h1, t ∈ 0, 1, 3.26 then λqtgxthyt ∈ L1 0, 1. It follows from 7 that, for each fixed x, y ∈ Qe , problem 3.22 has a solution w ∈ C1 0, 1, and 3.24 is equivalent to wt λ 1/p−1 t 1 τ qr g xr h yr dr ds, φ −1 0 0 ≤ t ≤ 1, 3.27 s where τ φw 1 is a solution of the equation 1 1 φ−1 τ qr g xr h yr dr ds 0. 0 3.28 s For any x, y ∈ Qe , we define Ax, yt wt λ1/p−1 t 0 1 φ−1 τ qr g xr h yr dr ds, 3.29 s then Ax, yt is concave on 0, 1, for any x, y ∈ Qe × Qe , qtgxt hyt ∈ L1 0, 1. 6 Boundary Value Problems First, we show for any x, y ∈ Qe , Ax, y ∈ Qe . Let x, y ∈ Qe , from 3.19 and 3.20, we have 1 1 1 t1 − t ≥ tα 1 − tα g ≥ tα 1 − tα α g1, g xt ≥ g M M M 1 1 ≥ h yt ≥ h Mt1 − t ≥ hM h h1, t ∈ 0, 1. 1/M Mα 3.30 Thus, we have 1 g xt h yt ≥ g1tα 1 − tα h1 . α M 3.31 So, we can obtain ∗ g xt h yt ≤ Mα g1 t−α 1 − t−α h1 ≤ Mα t−α 1 − t−α g1 h1 , 1 g1tα 1 − tα h1 ∗∗ g xt h yt ≥ α M ≥ M−α tα 1 − tα g1 h1 , t ∈ 0, 1, 3.32 t ∈ 0, 1. So − φ w ≤ qtMα t−α 1 − t−α g1 h1 , 3.33 − φ w ≤ −Mα g1 h1 φ u . 3.34 − φ w ≥ qtM−α tα 1 − tα g1 h1 , 3.35 − φ w ≥ −M−α g1 h1 φ v . 3.36 that is, Similarly, that is, By Lemma 3.3, 1/p−1 wt ≤ Mα/p−1 g1 h1 ut 1/p−1 α/p−1 ≤ Cu g1 h1 M t1 − t ≤ Mt1 − t, 1/p−1 vt wt ≥ M−α/p−1 g1 h1 1/p−1 1 t1 − t. t1 − t ≥ ≥ vM−α/p−1 g1 h1 M So, the operator A is well defined. 3.37 Xiaoning Lin et al. 7 Next, for any l ∈ 0, 1, one has qt g lxt h l−1 yt ≥ lα qt g xt h yt . 3.38 Then by Lemma 3.3 we have A lx, l−1 y t ≥ lα/p−1 Ax, yt 0<β α <1 . p−1 3.39 So the conditions of Theorems 2.2 and 2.3 hold. Therefore, there exists a unique xλ∗ ∈ Qe such that Aλ x∗ , x∗ xλ∗ . It is easy to check that xλ∗ is a unique positive solution of 3.1 for given λ > 0. Moreover, Theorem 2.3 means that if 0 < λ1 < λ2 , then xλ∗ 1 t ≤ xλ∗ 2 t, xλ∗ 1 t / xλ∗ 2 t and if α/p − 1 ∈ 0, 1/2, then lim xλ∗ 0, λ→0 lim xλ∗ ∞. λ→∞ 3.40 This completes the proof. Example 3.4. Consider the following singular p-Laplace boundary value problem: λqt μxa x−b 0, φ x t ∈ 0, 1; x0 x1 0, 3.41 where λ, a, b > 0, μ ≥ 0, q ∈ C0, 1, q > 0, t ∈ 0, 1, and 1 qtt−α 1 − t−α dt < ∞, 0 < α max{a, b} < p − 1. 3.42 0 Applying Theorem 3.1, we can find that 3.41 has a unique positive solution xλ∗ t. In addition, 0 < λ1 < λ2 implies xλ∗ 1 ≤ xλ∗ 2 , xλ∗ 1 / xλ∗ 2 . If α/p − 1 ∈ 0, 1/2, then lim xλ∗ 0, λ→0 lim xλ∗ ∞. λ→∞ 3.43 To see that, we put β α , p−1 gx μxa , hx x−b . 3.44 Thus 0 < β < 1 and gtx ta gx ≥ tα gx, ht−1 x tb hx ≥ tα hx, 3.45 for any t ∈ 0, 1 and x > 0, thus all conditions in Theorem 3.1 are satisfied. Acknowledgment The work was supported by the NSFC of China no. 10571021and Key Laboratory for Applied Statistics of MOEKLAS and the NSFC of China no. 10271023. 8 Boundary Value Problems References 1 R. P. Agarwal, H. Lü, and D. 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