Positive high energy solution for Kirchhoff equation in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ with superlinear nonlinearities via Nehari-Pohožaev manifold

Abstract

In this paper, we study the following nonlinear problem of Kirchhoff type: \begin{equation}\label{(0.1)} \left\{% \begin{array}{ll} -\left(a+b\int\limits_{\mathbb{R}^3}|\nabla u|^2\right)\Delta u+V(x)u=f(u), & \hbox{$x\in \mathbb{R}^3$}, \\ u>0, & \hbox{$x\in \mathbb{R}^3$}, (0.1) \end{array}% \right.\end{equation} where $a,$ $b>0$ are constants, $V:\mathbb{R}^3\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ and $f(t)$ is subcritical and superlinear at infinity. Under certain assumptions on non-constant potential $V$, we prove the existence of positive high energy solutions by using a linking argument with a barycenter map restricted on a Nehari-Pohožaev type manifold. Our main result has solved Kirchhoff equation (0.1) with superlinear nonlinearities, which has not been studied, and can be viewed as a partial extension of a recent result of He and Zou in [9] concerning Kirchhoff equations with 4-superlinear nonlinearities.