Critical points of solutions to elliptic problems in planar domains

Abstract

Given a planar domain $\Omega$, and an analytic function $f$, we describe the set of critical points for the solution $u$ of the semilinear elliptic problem $\Delta u = f(u)$ in $\Omega$, $u=0$ on $\partial\Omega$. For simply connected domains we establish that the set of critical points is finite while for non--simply connected domains we show that this set is made up of finitely many isolated points and finitely many analytic Jordan curves. Further results are given in the case that $\Omega$ is an annular domain whose border has nonzero curvature.