AbstractIn this work, we study the existence of a positive solution to an elliptic equation involving the fractional Laplacian (−Δ)sin ℝn, forn≥ 2, such as(0.1)(−Δ)su+E(x)u+V(x)uq−1=K(x)f(u)+u2s⋆−1.$$(-\Delta)^{s} u+E(x) u+V(x) u^{q-1}=K(x) f(u)+u^{2_{s}^{\star}-1}.$$Here,s ∈(0, 1),q∈2,2s⋆$q \in\left[2,2_{s}^{\star}\right)$with2s⋆:=2nn−2s$2_{s}^{\star}:=\frac{2 n}{n-2 s}$being the fractional critical Sobolev exponent,E(x),K(x),V(x) > 0 : ℝn→ ℝ are measurable functions which satisfy joint “vanishing at infinity” conditions in a measure-theoretic sense, andf(u) is a continuous function on ℝ of quasi-critical, super-q-linear growth withf(u) ≥ 0 ifu≥ 0. Besides, we study the existence of multiple positive solutions to an elliptic equation in ℝnsuch as(0.2)(−Δ)su+E(x)u+V(x)uq−1=λK(x)ur−1,$$(-\Delta)^{s} u+E(x) u+V(x) u^{q-1}=\lambda K(x) u^{r-1},$$where 2 <r<q< ∞(both possibly (super-)critical),E(x),K(x),V(x) > 0 : ℝn→ ℝ are measurable functions satisfying joint integrability conditions, andλ> 0 is a parameter. To study (0.1)-(0.2), we first describe a family of general fractional Sobolev-Slobodeckij spacesMs;q,p(ℝn) as well as their associated compact embedding results.