Existence of sign-changing solutions for one-dimensional $p$-Laplacian problems with a singular indefinite weight

Abstract

In this paper, we establish a sequence $\{\nu_k^\infty\}$ of eigenvalues for the following eigenvalue problem $$ \begin{cases} \varphi_p (u'(t))' + \nu h(t) \varphi_p(u(t)) = 0 &\text{for } t \in (0,1), \\ u(0) = 0=u(1), \end{cases} $$ where $\varphi_p(x)=|x|^{p-2}x$, $ 1< p< 2$, $\nu$ a real parameter. In particular, $h \in C((0,1),(0,\infty))$ is singular at the boundaries which may not be of $L^1(0,1)$. Employing global bifurcation theory and approximation technique, we prove several existence results of sign-changing solutions for problems of the form \begin{equation} \begin{cases} \varphi_p (u'(t))' + \lambda h(t) f (u(t)) = 0 &\text{for } t \in (0,1), \\ u(0) = 0= u(1), \end{cases} \tag{${\rm QP}_\lambda$} \end{equation} when $f \in C({\mathbb{R}}, {\mathbb{R}})$ and $uf(u) > 0$, for all $u \neq 0$ and is odd with various combinations of growth conditions at $0$ and $\infty$.