Calc. Var.

(2020) 59:176
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00526-020-01841-2 Calculus of Variations

Existence results for double phase implicit obstacle problems

involving multivalued operators

Shengda Zeng1,2 · Yunru Bai2 · Leszek Gasiński3 · Patrick Winkert4

Received: 16 March 2020 / Accepted: 31 July 2020 / Published online: 17 September 2020
© The Author(s) 2020

Abstract
In this paper we study implicit obstacle problems driven by a nonhomogenous differential
operator, called double phase operator, and a multivalued term which is described by Clarke’s
generalized gradient. Based on a surjectivity theorem for multivalued mappings, Kluge’s fixed
point principle and tools from nonsmooth analysis, we prove the existence of at least one
solution.

Mathematics Subject Classification 35J20 · 35J25 · 35J60

1 Introduction

Given a bounded domain  in R N , N ≥ 2, with Lipschitz boundary ∂, we study a double

phase implicit obstacle problem with a multivalued operator given in the form

Communicated by P. Rabinowitz.

B Shengda Zeng
zengshengda@163.com
Yunru Bai
yunrubai@163.com
Leszek Gasiński
leszek.gasinski@up.krakow.pl
Patrick Winkert
winkert@math.tu-berlin.de
1 Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Complex System Optimization and Big Data
Processing, Yulin Normal University, Yulin 537000, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China
2 Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, ul.
Lojasiewicza 6, 30-348 Kraków, Poland
3 Department of Mathematics, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Podchorazych 2, 30-084 Kraków,
Poland
4 Institut für Mathematik, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 136, 10623 Berlin, Germany

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176 Page 2 of 18 S. Zeng et al.

 
−div |∇u| p−2 ∇u + μ(x)|∇u|q−2 ∇u + ∂ j(x, u)  f (x) in ,
u=0 on ∂, (1.1)
T (u) ≤ U (u),

where 1 < p < q < N , μ :  → [0, ∞) and T , U : W01,H () → R are given functions
satisfying appropriate conditions (see Sect. 2). Here W01,H () is a subspace of the Sobolev–
Musielak–Orlicz space W 1,H () and j :  × R → R is supposed to be locally Lipschitz
with respect to the second variable.
In this paper we prove the existence of at least one weak solution (see Definition (3.4))
of problem (1.1) by applying a surjectivity theorem for multivalued mappings, Kluge’s fixed
point principle and tools from nonsmooth analysis. In general, problem (1.1) combines sev-
eral interesting phenomena like a double phase operator along with a multivalued mapping
in form of Clarke’s generalized gradient and an implicit obstacle given by the functions
T : W01,H () → R and U : W01,H () → (0, +∞), see H(T ) and H(U ) in Sect. 3 for the
precise conditions. Indeed, a solution u ∈ W01,H () of (1.1) has to belong to K (u) which is
1,H
the image of the multivalued map K : W01,H () → 2W0 () defined by
 
K (u) := v ∈ W01,H () | T (v) − U (u) ≤ 0 .

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work which combines a double phase phe-
nomena along with Clarke’s generalized gradient and an implicit obstacle. A main tool in our
treatment will be a surjectivity result of Le [24] for multivalued mappings generated by the
sum of a maximal monotone multivalued operator and a bounded multivalued pseudomono-
tone mapping.
One difficulty in the study of (1.1) is the occurrence of the so-called double phase operator
defined by
 
−div |∇u| p−2 ∇u + μ(x)|∇u|q−2 ∇u , u ∈ W01,H (),

where 1 < p < q < N . Although this operator looks like the ( p, q)-differential operator
the difference is the weight function μ :  → [0, ∞) which can have values in zero. That
1, p
means we cannot search for weak solutions in the usual Sobolev space W0 (), we need a
certain type of a Sobolev–Musielak–Orlicz space equipped with the Luxemburg norm, see
Sect. 2 for its definition. The idea to treat problems driven by the double phase operators goes
back to the 1980s and the work of Zhikov [36] who introduced such classes of operators to
describe models of strongly anisotropic materials by treating the functional

 
ω→ |∇ω| p + μ(x)|∇ω|q d x, (1.2)

see also Zhikov [37,38] and the monograph of Zhikov–Kozlov–Oleinik [39]. Integral func-
tionals of the form (1.2) have been considered by several authors concerning regularity
results and non-standard growth, see for example, Baroni–Colombo–Mingione [4,5,7],
Baroni–Kussi–Mingione [6], Cupini–Marcellini–Mascolo [16], Colombo–Mingione [14,15],
Marcellini [27,28] and the references therein.
In the case of single-valued equations in the whole space we refer to the works
of Colasuonno–Squassina [13], Gasiński–Papageorgiou [17, Proposition 3.4], Gasiński–
Winkert [20,21], Liu–Dai [26], Perera-Squassina [33] concerning existence and multiplicity
results.

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Existence results for double phase. . . Page 3 of 18 176

Works which are closely related to our paper dealing with certain types of double
phase problems or multivalued problems can be found in Bahrouni–Rădulescu–Repovš
[1], Bahrouni–Rădulescu–Winkert [2,3], Carl–Le-Motreanu [9], Cencelj–Rădulescu–Repovš
[10], Clarke [12], Gasiński–Papageorgiou [18,19], Papageorgiou–Rădulescu–Repovš [30,
31], Rădulescu [34], Zhang–Rădulescu [35] and the references therein.
The paper is organized as follows. In Sect. 2 we recall the definition of the used function
spaces, some embedding results and we state the surjectivity results of Le [24] for multivalued
mappings as well as Kluge’s fixed point theorem. In Sect. 3 we present the full assumptions
on the data of problem (1.1), give the definition of the weak solution and consider an auxiliary
problem defined in (3.7). Next, we prove some properties of the solution set of (3.7) stated
as Theorem 3.6 whose proof is mainly based on tools from nonsmooth analysis in terms
of multivalued mappings. Taking these results into account we are able to prove our main
result which says that the solution set of (1.1) is nonempty, bounded and weakly closed in
W01,H (), see Theorem 3.5.

2 Preliminaries

In the whole paper we suppose that  is a bounded domain in R N . Given 1 ≤ r ≤ ∞, L r ()

and L r (; R N ) stand for the usual Lebesgue spaces equipped with the norm · p while
W 1,r () and W01,r () denote the Sobolev spaces endowed with the norms · 1,r and · 1,r ,0 ,
respectively. By r , we denote the conjugate of r ∈ (1, ∞), that is, r1 + r1 = 1.
For the weight function in (1.1) we suppose the following condition:
H(μ) : μ :  → [0, ∞) is Lipschitz continuous and 1 < p < q < N are chosen such that
q 1
<1+ .
p N
Set R+ := [0, ∞) and consider the modular function H :  × R+ → R+ given by

H(x, t) = t p + μ(x)t q for all (x, t) ∈  × R+ .

The Musielak–Orlicz space L H () is defined by

  

L H () = u  u :  → R is measurable and ρH (u) := H(x, |u|) d x < +∞


equipped with the Luxemburg norm

  u 
u H = inf τ > 0  ρH ≤1 .
τ
The space L H () is uniformly convex and so a reflexive Banach space. Furthermore, we
q
introduce the seminormed function space L μ ()
  

L μ () = u  u :  → R is measurable and
q
μ(x)|u|q d x < +∞


endowed with the seminorm

 1
q
u q,μ = μ(x)|u|q d x .


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176 Page 4 of 18 S. Zeng et al.

From Colasuonno–Squassina [13, Proposition 2.15 (i), (iv) and (v)] we know that the embed-
dings
L q () → L H () → L p () ∩ L qμ ()
are continuous and so, by a simple calculation, we have
 p q  p q  p q 
min u H , u H ≤ u p + u q,μ ≤ max u H, u H (2.1)

for all u ∈ L H ().

The corresponding Sobolev–Musielak–Orlicz space W 1,H () is defined by
 
W 1,H () = u ∈ L H () : |∇u| ∈ L H ()
and is equipped with the norm
u 1,H = ∇u H + u H,

where ∇u H = |∇u| H .
The Sobolev–Musielak–Orlicz space with zero traces, denoted by W01,H (), is the com-
pletion of C0∞ () in W 1,H (), that is,
W 1,H ()
W01,H () = C0∞ () .

From the assumption on μ :  → R+ in H(μ) combined with Colasuonno–Squassina [13,

Proposition 2.18], it is known that
u 1,H,0 = ∇u H for all u ∈ W01,H (),

defines an equivalent norm on W01,H (). Based on this we obtain directly from (2.1) that
   
p q p q p q
min u 1,H,0 , u 1,H,0 ≤ ∇u p + ∇u q,μ ≤ max u 1,H,0 , u 1,H,0 (2.2)

is true for all u ∈ W01,H (). Moreover, both spaces W 1,H () and W01,H () are uniformly
convex and so reflexive Banach spaces as well.
From Colasuonno–Squassina [13, Proposition 2.15] we know that the embedding
W01,H () → L r () (2.3)
is compact for each 1 < r < p∗ , where p∗ stands for the critical exponent to p given by
Np
p ∗ := .
N−p
Let us recall some properties of the eigenvalue problem for the r -Laplacian (1 < r < ∞)
with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition given by
−r u = λ|u|r −2 u in ,
(2.4)
u=0 on ∂.
It is known that the set σr has a smallest element λ1,r which is positive, isolated, simple
and it can be variationally characterized through

∇u rr
λ1,r = inf : u ∈ W01,r (), u  = 0 ,
u rr
see Lê [25].

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 Existence results for double phase. . . Page 5 of 18 176

Let A : W01,H () → W01,H ()∗ be the operator defined by


 
A(u), vH := |∇u| p−2 ∇u + μ(x)|∇u|q−2 ∇u · ∇v d x, (2.5)


for u, v ∈ W01,H (), where ·, ·H stands for the duality pairing between W01,H () and its
dual space W01,H ()∗ . The properties of the operator A : W01,H () → W01,H ()∗ can be
summarized as follows, see Liu–Dai [26].
Proposition 2.1 The operator A defined by (2.5) is bounded, continuous, monotone (hence
maximal monotone) and of type (S+ ).
The notion of pseudomonotonicity for multivalued operators is recalled in the next defi-
nition.
∗
Definition 2.2 Let X be a real reflexive Banach space. The operator A : X → 2 X is called
pseudomonotone if the following conditions hold:
(i) the set A(u) is nonempty, bounded, closed and convex for all u ∈ X ;
(ii) A is upper semicontinuous from each finite-dimensional subspace of X to the weak
topology on X ∗ ;
(iii) if {u n } ⊂ X with u n u in X and if u ∗n ∈ A(u n ) is such that
lim supu ∗n , u n − u X ∗ ×X ≤ 0,
n→∞

then to each element v ∈ X , exists u ∗ (v) ∈ A(u) with

u ∗ (v), u − v X ∗ ×X ≤ lim inf u ∗n , u n − v X ∗ ×X .
n→∞

Let X be a real Banach space with its dual space X ∗ . A function J : X → R is said to be
locally Lipschitz at u ∈ X if there exist a neighborhood N (u) of u and a constant L u > 0
such that
|J (w) − J (v)| ≤ L u w − v X for all w, v ∈ N (u).

Definition 2.3 Let J : X → R be a locally Lipschitz function and let u, v ∈ X . The gener-
alized directional derivative J ◦ (u; v) of J at the point u in the direction v is defined by
J (w + tv) − J (w)
J ◦ (u; v) := lim sup .
w→u, t↓0 t
∗
The generalized gradient ∂ J : X → 2 X of J : X → R is defined by
 
∂ J (u) := ξ ∈ X ∗ | J ◦ (u; v) ≥ ξ, v X ∗ ×X for all v ∈ X for all u ∈ X .

The next proposition collects some basic results, see for example, Migórski–Ochal–
Sofonea [29, Proposition 3.23].
Proposition 2.4 Let J : X → R be locally Lipschitz with Lipschitz constant L u > 0 at
u ∈ X . Then we have the following:
(i) The function v → J ◦ (u; v) is positively homogeneous, subadditive, and satisfies
|J ◦ (u; v)| ≤ L u v X for all v ∈ X .
(ii) The function (u, v) → J ◦ (u; v) is upper semicontinuous.

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176 Page 6 of 18 S. Zeng et al.

(iii) For each u ∈ X , ∂ J (u) is a nonempty, convex, and weak∗ compact subset of X ∗ with
ξ X ∗ ≤ L u for all ξ ∈ ∂ J (u).
(iv) J ◦ (u; v) = max {ξ, v X ∗ ×X | ξ ∈ ∂ J (u)} for all v ∈ X .
(v) The multivalued function X  u → ∂ J (u) ⊂ X ∗ is upper semicontinuous from X into
w∗ -X ∗ .
Since our results are based on fixed point results, so we now recall the fixed point theorem
of Kluge [23].
Theorem 2.5 Let Z be a real reflexive Banach space and let C ⊂ Z be nonempty, closed and
convex. Assume that : C → 2C is a multivalued mapping such that for every u ∈ C, the
set (u) is nonempty, closed, and convex and the graph of is sequentially weakly closed.
If either C is bounded or (C) is bounded, then the map has at least one fixed point in C.
Finally, we end this section by recalling the following surjectivity theorem for multivalued
mappings which was proved by Le [24, Theorem 2.2]. We use the notation B R (0) := {u ∈
X : u X < R}.
∗
Theorem 2.6 Let X be a real reflexive Banach space, let F : D(F) ⊂ X → 2 X be a maximal
∗
monotone operator, let G : D(G) = X → 2 X be a bounded multivalued pseudomonotone
∗
operator and let L ∈ X . Assume that there exist u 0 ∈ X and R ≥ u 0 X such that
D(F) ∩ B R (0)  = ∅ and
ξ + η − L, u − u 0  X ∗ ×X > 0
for all u ∈ D(F) with u X = R, for all ξ ∈ F(u) and for all η ∈ G(u). Then the inclusion
F(u) + G(u)  L
has a solution in D(F).

3 Main results

We impose the following assumptions for the data of problem (1.1).

H( f ) : f ∈ L p ().
H( j) : j :  × R → R is such that
(i) x → j(x, s) is measurable for all s ∈ R and there exists a function l ∈ L q1 () with
q1 ∈ (1, p ∗ ) such that the function x → j(x, l(x)) belongs to L 1 ();
(ii) s → j(x, s) is locally Lipschitz continuous for a. a. x ∈ .
(iii) there exist θ ≥ 1 with θ ≤ min{q1 , p}, α j ≥ 0 with α j < λ−11, p δθ and β j ∈ L + ()
1

such that
j ◦ (x, s; −s) ≤ α j |s|θ + β j (x)
for a. a. x ∈  and for all s ∈ R, where δθ is defined by

1 if θ = p,
δθ =
+∞ otherwise,
and λ1, p denotes the first eigenvalue of the Dirichlet eigenvalue problem for the
p-Laplacian, see (2.4);

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Existence results for double phase. . . Page 7 of 18 176

q1
q −1
(iv) there exist c j ≥ 0 and γ j ∈ L +1 () satisfying

|ξ | ≤ c j |r |q1 −1 + γ j (x)
for a. a. x ∈ , for all ξ ∈ ∂ j(x, s) and for all s ∈ R, where ∂ j(x, s) stands for the
generalized gradient of j with respect to the variable s and q1 is given in (i);
(v) there exists a constant m j ≥ 0 such that
(ξ1 − ξ2 )(s1 − s2 ) ≥ −m j |s1 − s2 | p
for a. a. x ∈  and for all s1 , s2 ∈ R whenever ξ1 ∈ ∂ j(x, s1 ) and ξ2 ∈ ∂ j(x, s2 ).
H(T ): T : W01,H () → R is positively homogeneous and subadditive such that
T (u) ≤ lim sup T (u n ) (3.1)
n→∞

whenever {u n } ⊂ W01,H () is such that u n u in W01,H () for some u ∈ W01,H ().
H(U ) : U : W01,H () → (0, +∞) is weakly continuous, that is, for any sequence {u n } ⊂
W01,H () such that u n u for some u ∈ W01,H (), we have
U (u n ) → U (u).

Remark 3.1 (a) Assumption H( j)(v) is usually called the relaxed monotone condition for
the locally Lipschitz function s → j(x, s), see for example, Migórski–Ochal–Sofonea [29].
It is equivalent to the inequality
j ◦ (x, s1 ; s2 − s1 ) + j ◦ (x, s2 ; s1 − s2 ) ≤ m j |s1 − s2 | p
for a. a. x ∈  and for all s1 , s2 ∈ R.
(b) Positive homogeneity and subadditivity of T imply that T is also a convex function.
On the other hand, it is not difficult to see that if T : W01,H () → R is lower semicontinuous,
then inequality (3.1) holds automatically.
1,H
We introduce the following multivalued map K : W01,H () → 2W0 () defined by
 
K (u) := v ∈ W01,H () | T (v) − U (u) ≤ 0 (3.2)

for all u ∈ W01,H ().

Lemma 3.2 Let U : W01,H () → (0, +∞) and T : W01,H () → R be such that H(T ) holds.
Then, for each u ∈ W01,H (), the set K (u) is nonempty, closed and convex in W01,H ().

Proof For any fixed u ∈ W01,H () it is clear that U (u) > 0. Since T is positively homoge-
neous, we have T (0) = 0. This implies T (0) = 0 < U (u), that is, 0 ∈ K (u) and so, K (u)
is nonempty.
Let {vn } ⊂ K (u) be a sequence such that vn → v in W01,H () for some v ∈ W01,H ().
Hence, for each n ∈ N, one has
T (vn ) ≤ U (u).
Passing to the upper limit as n → ∞ and taking inequality (3.1) into account, we obtain
T (v) ≤ lim sup T (vn ) ≤ U (u).
n→∞

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 176 Page 8 of 18 S. Zeng et al.

Hence, v ∈ K (u) which shows that K (u) is closed.

Let v1 , v2 ∈ K (u) and t ∈ (0, 1) be arbitrary. We set vt = tv1 + (1 − t)v2 . Then, we have
T (vi ) ≤ U (u) for i = 1, 2. By the convexity of T , see Remark 3.1, it follows that

T (vt ) ≤ t T (v1 ) + (1 − t)T (v2 ) ≤ tU (u) + (1 − t)U (u) = U (u).

Thus vt ∈ K (u). Therefore, we conclude that K (u) is a convex set in W01,H (). 


Let us introduce the functional J : L q1 () → R defined by


J (u) := j(x, u(x)) d x for all u ∈ L q1 (). (3.3)


From hypotheses H( j) and the definition of J in (3.3), the next lemma is a direct consequence
of Migórski–Ochal–Sofonea [29, Theorem 3.47].

Lemma 3.3 Under the assumptions H( j)(i) − (iv), the following hold:

(i) J : L q1 () → R is locally Lipschitz continuous;

(ii) there hold

J ◦ (u; v) ≤ j ◦ (x, u(x); v(x)) d x,

J ◦ (u; −u) ≤ α j u θ
θ + βj 1

for all u, v ∈ L q1 ();

(iii) for each u ∈ L q1 (), one has

∂ J (u) ⊂ ∂ j(x, u(x)) d x,

q1 −1
ξ q1 ≤ c J (1 + u q1 ) for all ξ ∈ ∂ J (u)

with some c J > 0.

Moreover, if condition H( j)(v) holds, then the inequality

J ◦ (u; v − u) + J ◦ (v; u − v) ≤ m j u − v
p
p (3.4)

is satisfied for all u, v ∈ W01,H ().

The weak solutions for problem (1.1) are understood in the following sense.

Definition 3.4 We say that u ∈ W01,H () is a weak solution of problem (1.1) if u ∈ K (u)
and

 
|∇u| p−2 ∇u · ∇(v − u) + μ(x)|∇u|q−2 ∇u · ∇(v − u) d x

 
+ j ◦ (x, u; v − u) d x ≥ f (x) (v − u) d x
 

for all v ∈ K (u), where the multivalued function K is given by (3.2).

Our main results read as follows.

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Existence results for double phase. . . Page 9 of 18 176

Theorem 3.5 Assume that H(μ), H( f ), H( j), H(T ) and H(U ) are satisfied. If p ≥ 2 and the
smallness condition

m j λ−1
1, p < c( p), (3.5)

holds, then the set of solutions for problem (1.1), denoted by S , is nonempty, bounded and
weakly closed in W01,H (), where c( p) > 0 is the largest constant such that
 p−2 
|x| x − |y| p−2 y · (x − y) ≥ c( p)|x − y| p for all x, y ∈ R N .

From Lemma 3.3(ii) we see that if u ∈ W01,H () solves the following problem:
Find u ∈ W01,H () such that u ∈ K (u) and

 
|∇u| p−2 ∇u · ∇(v − u) + μ(x)|∇u|q−2 ∇u · ∇(v − u) d x

 (3.6)
+ J ◦ (u; v − u) ≥ f (x) (v − u) d x


for all v ∈ K (u), then u is also a weak solution of problem (1.1). Based on this fact, in the
sequel, we are going to explore the existence of solutions for problem (3.6).
To this end, we now introduce the following auxiliary problem:
For given w ∈ W01,H (), find u ∈ K (w) such that

 
|∇u| p−2 ∇u · ∇(v − u) + μ(x)|∇u|q−2 ∇u · ∇(v − u) d x

 (3.7)
+ J ◦ (u; v − u) ≥ f (x) (v − u) d x

1,H
for all v ∈ K (w). Setting the multivalued  : W01,H () → 2W0 () by
 
(w) := u ∈ W01,H () | u solves problem (3.7)corresponding tow

for all w ∈ W01,H (), it is not difficult to verify that u ∈ W01,H () is a fixed point of  if and
only if u solves problem (3.6). Motivated by this fact, we shall employ Kluge’s fixed point
principle, see Theorem 2.5, in order to show that  has at least one fixed point in W01,H ().

Theorem 3.6 Let U : W01,H () → (0, +∞). Under the assumptions H(μ), H( f ), H( j)(i)–(iv)
and H(T ), the following hold:
(i) for each w ∈ W01,H (), the set of solutions to problem (3.7) is nonempty, bounded and
closed in W01,H (), that is,  has nonempty, bounded and closed values.
(ii) if, in addition, p ≥ 2, H( j)(v) and the smallness condition (3.5) are fulfilled, then for
each w ∈ W01,H (), problem (3.7) has a unique solution u w ∈ W01,H (), namely,
(w) = {u w }.

Proof (i) For any fixed w ∈ W01,H (), we consider the indicator function I K (w) : W01,H () →
R := R ∪ {+∞} of K (w) defined by

0 if u ∈ K (w),
I K (w) (u) :=
+∞ otherwise.

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176 Page 10 of 18 S. Zeng et al.

From the fact that f ∈ L p () ⊂ W01,H ()∗ , problem (3.7) can be expressed as the
variational-hemivariational inequality: Find u ∈ W01,H () such that
Au, v − uH + J ◦ (u; v − u) + I K (w) (v) − I K (w) (u) ≥  f , v − uH (3.8)

for all v ∈ W01,H (), where A : W01,H () → W01,H ()∗ is the double phase operator defined
in (2.5). Employing the first separation theorem, see for example, Papageorgiou–Winkert [32,
Theorem 3.1.57], it is not difficult to see that inequality problem (3.8) is equivalent to the
following inclusion problem: Find u ∈ W01,H () such that
Au + ∂ J (u) + ∂C I K (w) (u)  f , (3.9)
where the notation ∂C I K (w) stands for the subdifferential of I K (w) in the sense of convex
analysis.

First, we are going to apply the surjectivity theorem for multivalued mappings, see The-
orem 2.6, in order to prove that problem (3.9) has at least one solution in W01,H (). In fact,
we have the following claims.
1,H ∗
Claim 1 A +∂ J : W01,H () → 2W0 () is a bounded pseudomonotone multivalued opera-
tor such that for each u ∈ W01,H (), the set A(u)+∂ J (u) is closed and convex in W01,H ()∗ .

Indeed, Proposition 2.4 and Lemma 3.3 imply that for each u ∈ W01,H (), the set A(u) +
∂ J (u) is closed and convex in W01,H ()∗ . Besides, Proposition 2.1, Lemma 3.3(iii), (2.3)
and the fact that p1 < p ∗ guarantee that
W01,H ()  u → A(u) + ∂ J (u) ⊂ W01,H ()∗ is a bounded map.
Next are going to apply Proposition 3.8 in Migórski–Ochal–Sofonea [29] in order to
conclude that W01,H ()  u → A(u) + ∂ J (u) ⊂ W01,H ()∗ is upper semicontinuous from
W01,H () to W01,H ()∗ equipped with the weak topology. It is sufficient to show that for any
weakly closed subset D in W01,H ()∗ , the set (A + ∂ J )− (D) is closed in W01,H ().
Let {u n } ⊂ (A + ∂ J )− (D) be a sequence such that
u n → u in W01,H () for some u ∈ W01,H (). (3.10)
Hence, for each n ∈ N, we are able to find ξn ∈ ∂ J (u n ) such that
 
u ∗n := Au n + ξn ∈ A(u n ) + ∂ J (u n ) ∩ D.

The continuity of A, see Proposition 2.1, implies that A(u n ) → A(u) in W01,H ()∗ . Lemma
3.3(iii) and convergence (3.10) imply that the sequence {ξn } is bounded in W01,H ()∗ . So,
without any loss of generality, we may assume that
ξn ξ in W01,H ()∗ .

Recall that ∂ J is upper semicontinuous from W01,H () to W01,H ()∗ equipped with the weak
topology and has bounded, convex, closed values, see Proposition 2.4(iv). Hence, it has a
closed graph in W01,H () × W01,H ()∗ , see Kamenskii–Obukhovskii–Zecca [22, Theorem
1.1.4]. But, thanks to the weak
 closedness
− of D, we derive that A(u) + ξ ∈ D and ξ ∈ ∂ J (u),
which provides that u ∈ A + ∂ J (D). Consequently, A + ∂ J is upper semicontinuous
from W01,H () to W01,H ()∗ equipped with the weak topology.

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Existence results for double phase. . . Page 11 of 18 176

We now prove that A + ∂ J is pseudomonotone. Let {u n } and {u ∗n } be sequences such that

un u in W01,H (), (3.11)

u ∗n ∈ A(u n ) + ∂ J (u n ) with lim supu ∗n , u n − uH ≤ 0. (3.12)
n→∞

Our goal is to produce for each v ∈ W01,H () an element u ∗ (v) ∈ A(u) + ∂ J (u) such that
lim inf u ∗n , u n − vH ≥ u ∗ (v), u − vH . (3.13)
n→∞

From (3.12), there is a sequence {ξn } ⊂ W01,H ()∗ such that for each n ∈ N, ξn ∈ ∂ J (u n )
and
u ∗n = A(u n ) + ξn .
From (3.12), and the above equality it follows that
lim supAu n , u n − uH + lim inf ξn , u n − uH ≤ 0. (3.14)
n→∞ n→∞

Applying (3.11) and the compact embedding of W01,H () into L q1 (), see (2.3), we have
u n → u in L q1 ().
By virtue of Theorem 2.2 of Chang [11], we know that
 
∂ J |W 1,H () (u) ⊂ ∂ J | L q1 () (u) for all u ∈ W01,H (),
0

which shows that

ξn , u n − uH = ξn , u n − u L q1 () . (3.15)

Additionally, Lemma 3.3(iii) and the boundedness of {u n } in W01,H () entail that the
sequence {ξn } is bounded both in L q1 () and W01,H ()∗ . Then, we pass to the limit in
(3.15) as n → ∞, to get
lim ξn , u n − uH = lim ξn , u n − u L q1 () = 0.
n→∞ n→∞

Combining this with (3.14) leads to

lim supAu n , u n − uH = lim supAu n , u n − uH + lim inf ξn , u n − uH ≤ 0.
n→∞ n→∞ n→∞

Hence, since A is of type (S+ ), see Proposition 2.1, and (3.11) yields u n → u in W01,H ().
On the other hand, by the reflexivity of W01,H ()∗ and the boundedness of {ξn } ⊂ W01,H ()∗ ,
we can suppose that
ξn ξ in W01,H ()∗ for some ξ ∈ W01,H ()∗ .
Then, from Kamenskii–Obukhovskii–Zecca [22, Theorem 1.1.4], we can conclude that ξ ∈
∂ J (u). Because of
lim inf u ∗n , u n − vH = lim inf A(u n ) + ξn , u n − vH = A(u) + ξ, u − vH ,
n→∞ n→∞

it is clear that (3.13) holds with u ∗ = A(u) + ξ ∈ A(u) + ∂ J (u). We conclude that A + ∂ J
is pseudomonotone. This proves Claim 1.

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176 Page 12 of 18 S. Zeng et al.

Claim 2 There exists R > 0 such that

Au + ξ + η − f , uH > 0 (3.16)
for all u ∈ K (w) with u 1,H,0 = R, for all ξ ∈ ∂ J (u) and for all η ∈ ∂C (I K (w) )(u).

Let u ∈ W01,H () be fixed. Since 0 ∈ K (w) and f ∈ L p () ⊂ W01,H ()∗ , for any
ξ ∈ ∂ J (u) and η ∈ ∂C (I K (w) )(u), we can find

Au + ξ + η − f , uH
 
≥ |∇u| p−2 ∇u · ∇u d x + μ(x)|∇u|q−2 ∇u · ∇u d x
 

+ ξ u d x + I K (w) (u) − I K (w) (0) − f W 1,H ()∗ u 1,H,0 (3.17)
 0

p q
≥ ∇u p + ∇u q,μ − ξ [−u] d x + I K (w) (u) − f W 1,H ()∗ u 1,H,0
 0
p q ◦
≥ ∇u p + ∇u q,μ − J (u; −u) + I K (w) (u) − f W01,H ()∗
u 1,H,0 .

Note that I K (w) : W01,H () → R is a proper, convex and lower semicontinuous function.
Hence, we can apply Proposition 1.10 of Brezis [8] to find a K (w) , b K (w) > 0 such that

I K (w) (v) ≥ −a K (w) v 1,H,0 − b K (w) for all v ∈ W01,H (). (3.18)
In addition, by Lemma 3.3(ii), we have
J ◦ (u; −u) ≤ α j u θ
θ + βj 1. (3.19)
We consider now the two cases θ < p and θ = p. Suppose first θ < p and let c(θ ) > 0
be such that
u θ ≤ c(θ ) u 1,H,0 for all u ∈ W01,H () (3.20)

due to the continuity of the embedding from W01,H () to L r () for all r ∈ (1, p ∗ ). Applying
(3.18) and (3.19) in (3.17) and using (3.20) we get
Au + ξ + η − f , uH
p q θ
≥ ∇u p + ∇u q,μ − αj u θ − βj 1 − a K (w) u 1,H,0 − b K (w)
− f W01,H ()∗
u 1,H,0

− α j c(θ )θ u θ
p q
≥ ∇u p + ∇u q,μ 1,H,0 − βj 1 − a K (w) u 1,H,0 (3.21)
− b K (w) − f W 1,H ()∗ u 1,H,0

0

≥ min u 1,H,0 , u 1,H,0 − α j c(θ )θ u θ
p q
1,H,0 − βj 1

− a K (w) u 1,H,0 − b K (w) − f W01,H ()∗

u 1,H,0 ,

where the last inequality is obtained via inequality (2.2). Since θ < p < q, it is clear that
p q
we can find a constant R0 > 0 large enough such that R0 < R0 and

R0 − α j c(θ )θ R0θ − β j
p
1 − a K (w) R0 − b K (w) − f W01,H ()∗
R0 > 0.

Therefore, for each R ≥ R0 fixed, the desired inequality (3.16) holds.

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Existence results for double phase. . . Page 13 of 18 176

Suppose now θ = p. Then, taking W01,H () ⊂ W0 () into account and the fact that
1, p

≤ λ−1
p p 1, p
u p 1, p ∇u p for all u ∈ W0 (), (3.22)
we obtain
Au + ξ + η − f , uH
p q p
≥ ∇u p + ∇u q,μ − αj u p − βj 1 − a K (w) u 1,H,0 − b K (w)
− f W01,H ()∗
u 1,H,0

≥ 1 − α j λ−1
p q
1, p ∇u p + ∇u q,μ − βj 1 − a K (w) u 1,H,0 − b K (w)
− f W 1,H ()∗ u 1,H,0 (3.23)
0
  q 
≥ 1 − α j λ−1
p
1, p ∇u p + ∇u q,μ − βj 1 − a K (w) u 1,H,0 − b K (w)
− f W 1,H ()∗ u 1,H,0
0
   
≥ 1 − α j λ−1
p q
1, p min u 1,H,0 , u 1,H,0 − βj 1 − a K (w) u 1,H,0 − b K (w)
− f W01,H ()∗
u 1,H,0 .

Since 1 < p < q and α j λ−1

p q
1, p < 1, we can take R0 > 0 large enough with R0 < R0 such
that for all R ≥ R0 it holds

1 − α j λ−1
1, p R − β j
p
1 − a K (w) R − b K (w) − f W01,H ()∗
R > 0.

Therefore, inequality (3.16) holds and Claim 2 is proved.

Recall that I K (w) : W01,H () → R is a proper, convex and lower semicontinuous function.
1,H ∗
Hence ∂C I K (w) : W01,H () → 2W0 () is maximal monotone. This fact combined with
Claims 1 and 2 allows us to apply Theorem 2.6 which provides u w ∈ W01,H () satisfying
inclusion (3.9). Thus (w)  = ∅ for each w ∈ W01,H ().
Now we want to verify that (w) is closed in W01,H (). Let {u n } ⊂ (w) be a sequence
such that
u n → u in W01,H ()

for some u ∈ W01,H (). So, for each n ∈ N, we have

Au n , v − u n H + J ◦ (u n ; v − u n ) + I K (w) (v) − I K (w) (u n ) ≥  f , v − u n H

for all v ∈ W01,H (). Passing to the upper limit as n → ∞, we get

Au, v − uH + J ◦ (u; v − u) + I K (w) (v) − I K (w) (u)
 
≥ lim sup Au n , v − u n H + J ◦ (u n ; v − u n ) + I K (w) (v) − I K (w) (u n )
n→∞
≥ lim sup f , v − u n H
n→∞
=  f , v − uH

for all v ∈ W01,H (), where we have used the continuity of A, see Proposition 2.1, the upper
semicontinuity of (u, v) → J ◦ (u; v), see Proposition 2.4(iv), and the lower semicontinuity
of I K (w) . This shows that u ∈ (w). Hence, (w) is closed.

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176 Page 14 of 18 S. Zeng et al.

Finally, we need to show that (w) is bounded. Arguing by contradiction, we suppose

that (w) is unbounded. Then, there exists a sequence {u n } in (w) such that

un 1,H,0 → +∞. (3.24)

By a simple computing, see (3.21) and (3.23) for example, we are able to find N0 ∈ N such
the for all n ≥ N0 , one has

0 ≥ Au n , u n H − J ◦ (u n ; −u n ) + I K (w) (u n ) > 0,

where we have used the fact that 0 ∈ K and (3.24) which leads to a contradiction. Therefore,
(w) is bounded.
(ii) Now assume that H( f )(v) holds. Let u 1 , u 2 ∈ W01,H () be two solutions of problem
(3.7), that is,

Au i , v − u i H + J ◦ (u i ; v − u i ) + I K (w) (v) − I K (w) (u i ) ≥  f , v − u i H

for all v ∈ W01,H () and for i = 1, 2. Taking v = u 2 and v = u 1 into the inequalities above
for i = 1 and i = 2, respectively, and applying (3.4) we obtain
 
0 ≥ Au 1 − Au 2 , u 1 − u 2 H − J ◦ (u 1 ; u 2 − u 1 ) + J ◦ (u 2 ; u 1 − u 2 )

 
= |∇u 1 | p−2 ∇u 1 − |∇u 2 | p−2 ∇u 2 · ∇(u 1 − u 2 ) d x


 
+ μ(x) |∇u 1 |q−2 ∇u 1 − |∇u 2 |q−2 ∇u 2 · ∇(u 1 − u 2 ) d x

p
− m j u1 − u2 p

  p
≥ |∇u 1 | p−2 ∇u 1 − |∇u 2 | p−2 ∇u 2 · ∇(u 1 − u 2 ) d x − m j u 1 − u 2 p,


where we have used the fact μ(x) ≥ 0 for a. a. x ∈ . Taking


  p
|∇u 1 | p−2 ∇u 1 − |∇u 2 | p−2 ∇u 2 · ∇(u 1 − u 2 ) d x ≥ c( p) ∇(u 1 − u 2 ) p,


into account gives

 
0 ≥ Au 1 − Au 2 , u 1 − u 2 H − J ◦ (u 1 ; u 2 − u 1 ) + J ◦ (u 2 ; u 1 − u 2 )
p p
≥ c( p) ∇(u 1 − u 2 ) p − m j u 1 − u 2 p
 
≥ c( p) − m j λ−1
p
1, p ∇(u 1 − u 2 ) p ,

where the last inequality is obtained by using inequality (3.22). Since W01,H () ⊂ W0 ()
1, p

we deduce that u 1 = u 2 . Consequently, problem (3.7) has a unique solution in W01,H (). 

Now we are in the position to prove Theorem 3.5 by applying Theorem 3.6 and Kluge’s
fixed point theorem.

Proof of Theorem 3.5 We have already mentioned that the fixed point set of  is the cor-
responding set of solutions to problem (3.6). Besides, Lemma 3.2 points out that the set of
solutions for problem (3.6) is a subset of the set of solutions for problem (1.1). Consequently,
it suffices to show that the set of fixed points of  is nonempty. 


Claim 3 The graph of  is sequentially weakly closed.

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Existence results for double phase. . . Page 15 of 18 176

Let {wn } ⊂ W01,H () be a sequence such that wn w and u n := (wn ) u in W01,H ()
for some w, u ∈ W01,H (). Then, for each n ∈ N we have u n ∈ K (wn ), namely T (u n ) ≤
U (wn ), and
Au n , v − u n H + J ◦ (u n ; v − u n ) ≥  f , v − u n H (3.25)
for all v ∈ K (wn ). The inequality
 
Au 1 − Au 2 , u 1 − u 2 H − J ◦ (u 1 ; u 2 − u 1 ) + J ◦ (u 2 ; u 1 − u 2 )
≥ c( p) − m j λ−1
p
1, p ∇ (u 1 − u 2 ) p ≥0

for all u 1 , u 2 ∈ W01,H () and smallness condition (3.5) indicate that u n solves the following
problem
Av, v − u n H + J ◦ (v; v − u n ) ≥  f , v − u n H (3.26)
for all v ∈ K (wn ).
From hypotheses H(T ) and H(U ) we know that
T (u) ≤ lim sup T (u n ) ≤ lim sup U (wn ) ≤ U (w).
n→∞ n→∞

This means that u ∈ K (w).

For any fixed v ∈ K (w), since U (w) > 0, we can consider the sequence {vn } defined by
U (wn )
vn := v for all n ∈ N.
U (w)
The nonnegativity of U , the positive homogeneity of T and v ∈ K (w), that is, T (v) ≤ U (w),
imply
U (wn ) U (wn ) U (wn )U (w)
T (vn ) = T v = T (v) ≤ = U (wn ).
U (w) U (w) U (w)
Hence vn ∈ K (wn ). A simple calculating gives
v 1,H,0
lim vn − v 1,H,0 = lim |U (wn ) − U (w)| = 0.
n→∞ n→∞ U (w)
This shows that vn → v. Taking v = vn in (3.26) and passing to the upper limit as n → ∞
one has
Av, v − uH + J ◦ (v; v − u)
≥ lim supAvn , vn − u n H + lim sup J ◦ (vn ; vn − u n )
n→∞ n→∞
 
≥ lim sup Avn , vn − u n H + J ◦ (vn ; vn − u n )
n→∞
≥ lim sup f , vn − u n H =  f , v − uH ,
n→∞

where we have used the compact embedding of W01,H () in L q1 () and the fact that L q1 ()×
L q1 ()  (v, u) → J ◦ (u; v) ∈ R is upper semicontinuous, see (2.3) and Proposition 2.4.
Hence,
Av, v − uH + J ◦ (v; v − u) ≥  f , v − uH (3.27)

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176 Page 16 of 18 S. Zeng et al.

for all v ∈ K (w). Note that u ∈ K (w) and K (w) is closed and convex. Let t ∈ (0, 1) be
arbitrary and set vt := tv + (1 − t)u. Taking v = vt in (3.27) and applying Proposition 2.4(i),
we get that

Avt , v − uH + J ◦ (vt ; v − u) ≥  f , v − uH .

Passing to the upper limit in the inequality above as t → 0+ yields

Au, v − uH + J ◦ (u; v − u) ≥  f , v − uH

for all v ∈ K (w) which means u = (w). Therefore, we conclude that the graph of  is
sequentially weakly closed and so Claim 3 is proved.

Claim 4 The set (W01,H ()) is bounded in W01,H ().

Arguing by contradiction and suppose the claim is not true. Then there exists a sequence
{wn } such that

un 1,H,0 → ∞,

where u n = (wn ). For every n ∈ N, one has (3.25) for all v ∈ K (wn ). Having in mind that
0 ∈ K (w) for each w ∈ W01,H (), we take v = 0 as test function in (3.25) to obtain

Au n , u n H − J ◦ (u n ; −u n ) ≤ f W01,H ()∗

un 1,H,0 .

By using the same arguments as in the proof of Theorem 3.6, see (3.21) and (3.23), we can
p q
find N0 ∈ N large enough with u n 1,H,0 < u n 1,H,0 for all n ≥ N0 such that

0 < Au n , u n H − J ◦ (u n ; −u n ) − f W01,H ()∗

un 1,H,0 ≤0

for all n ≥ N0 . This is a contradiction. Therefore, we conclude that the set (W01,H ()) is
bounded in W01,H (), which proves Claim 4.
Now we can apply Theorem 2.5 for the mapping = . This shows that  admits a
fixed point in W01,H () which implies that problem (1.1) has at least one weak solution in
W01,H (). We still need to show that the set S is bounded and weakly closed.
The boundedness of S can be obtained directly via using analogous arguments as in the
proof of Claim 4.
It remains to show the weak closedness of S . Let {u n } ⊂ S be a sequence such that u n u
in W01,H () for some u ∈ W01,H (). Hence, for each n ∈ N, we see that u n ∈ K (u n ) and

Av, v − u n H + j ◦ (v(x); v(x) − u n (x)) d x ≥  f , v − u n H (3.28)


for all v ∈ K (u n ). Because the graph of K is sequentially weakly closed, see Claim 3, this
implies u ∈ K (u). For any v ∈ K (u), we set vn := UU(u(u)n ) v. We have vn ∈ K (u n ) and
vn → v in W01,H (). Taking v = vn in (3.28) and passing to the upper limit as n → ∞ we
obtain

Av, v − uH + j ◦ (v(x); v(x) − u(x)) d x ≥  f , v − uH


for all v ∈ K (u), where we have applied Fatou’s Lemma. Invoking the Minty approach gives
u ∈ S . Therefore, S is weakly closed in W01,H (). 


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Existence results for double phase. . . Page 17 of 18 176

Acknowledgements Project supported by the H2020-MSCA-RISE-2018 Research and Innovation Staff

Exchange Scheme Fellowship within the Project No. 823731 CONMECH, the Startup Project of Doctor
Scientific Research of Yulin Normal University No. G2020ZK07, and National Science Center of Poland
under Preludium Project No. 2017/25/N/ST1 /00611. It is also supported by the International Project
co-financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Republic of Poland under Grant No.
3792/GGPJ/H2020/2017/0.

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give
appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence,
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To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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