The Li-Lin's open problem on $\mathbb{R}^N$

Abstract: In 2012, Y.Y. Li and C.-S. Lin (Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal., 203(3): 943-968) posed an open problem concerning the existence of positive solutions to the elliptic equation $$ \begin{cases} -\Delta u = -\lambda |x|^{-s_1}|u|^{p-2}u + |x|^{-s_2}|u|^{q-2}u & \text{in } \Omega, u = 0 & \text{on } \partial \Omega, \end{cases} $$ for $\lambda > 0$, $p > q = 2^*(s_2)$, $0 \leq s_1 < s_2 < 2$, and $2^*(s) = \frac{2(N-s)}{N-2}$ denotes the Hardy-Sobolev critical exponent, initially studied in bounded domains $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^N$, $N \geq 3$. Currently, research on this open problem remains limited, and a complete resolution is still far from being achieved. Motivated by the need to address this open problem in more general settings, we extend our investigation to the entire space $\mathbb{R}^N$, focusing on the equation $$ -\Delta u + u = -\lambda |x|^{-s_1}|u|^{p-2}u + |x|^{-s_2}|u|^{q-2}u \quad \text{in } \mathbb{R}^N. $$ Our analysis reveals stark contrasts between bounded and unbounded domains: in $\mathbb{R}^N$, the equation admits no solution when $q = 2^*(s_2)$ for any $\lambda > 0$, whereas a positive solution exists when $q < 2^*(s_2)$. To establish these results, we employ the Nehari manifold method; however, the functional's unboundedness from below on the manifold causes standard global minimization techniques to be inapplicable. Instead, we characterize a local minimizer of the energy functional on the Nehari manifold, overcoming the challenge posed by the lack of a global minimizer.