A Fredholm alternative for elliptic equations with interior and boundary nonlinear reactions

Abstract

In this paper we study the existence of solutions to the following generalized nonlinear two-parameter problem \begin{equation*} a(u, v) = \lambda b(u, v) + \mu m(u, v) + \varepsilon F(u, v), \end{equation*} for a triple $(a, b, m)$ of continuous, symmetric bilinear forms on a real separable Hilbert space $V$ and nonlinear form $F$. This problem is a natural abstraction of nonlinear problems that occur for a large class of differential operators, various elliptic pde's with nonlinearities in either the differential equation and/or the boundary conditions being a special subclass. First, a Fredholm alternative for the associated linear two-parameter eigenvalue problem is developed, and then this is used to construct a nonlinear version of the Fredholm alternative. Lastly, the Steklov-Robin Fredholm equation is used to exemplify the abstract results.