Nonlinear elliptic equations having a gradient term with natural growth

Abstract In this paper, we study a class of nonlinear elliptic Dirichlet problems whose simplest model example is: (1) { − Δ p u = g ( u ) | ∇ u | p + f , in Ω , u = 0 , on ∂ Ω . Here Ω is a bounded open set in R N ( N ⩾ 2 ), Δ p denotes the so-called p-Laplace operator ( p > 1 ) and g is a continuous real function. Given f ∈ L m ( Ω ) ( m > 1 ), we study under which growth conditions on g problem (1) admits a solution. If m ⩾ N / p , we prove that there exists a solution under assumption (3) (see below), and that it is bounded when m > N p ; while if 1 m N / p and g satisfies the condition (4) below, we prove the existence of an unbounded generalized solution. Note that no smallness condit…