Existence and Convergence of Solutions to Fractional Pure Critical Exponent Problems

We study existence and convergence properties of least-energy symmetric solutions (l.e.s.s.) to the pure critical exponent problem ( - Δ ) s ⁢ u s = | u s | 2 s ⋆ - 2 ⁢ u s , u s ∈ D 0 s ⁢ ( Ω ) , 2 s ⋆ := 2 ⁢ N N - 2 ⁢ s , (-\Delta)^{s}u_{s}=\lvert u_{s}\rvert^{2_{s}^{\star}-2}u_{s},\quad u_{s}\in D^% {s}_{0}(\Omega),\,2^{\star}_{s}:=\frac{2N}{N-2s}, where s is any positive number, Ω is either ℝ N {\mathbb{R}^{N}} or a smooth symmetric bounded domain, and D 0 s ⁢ ( Ω ) {D^{s}_{0}(\Omega)} is the homogeneous Sobolev space. Depending on the kind of symmetry considered, solutions can be sign-changing. We show that, up to a subsequence, a l.e.s.s. u s {u_{s}} converges to a l.e.s.s. u t {u_{t}} as s goes to any t > 0 {t>0} . In bounded domains, this convergence can be characterized in terms of an homogeneous fractional norm of order t - ε {t-\varepsilon} . A similar characterization is no longer possible in unbounded domains due to scaling invariance and an incompatibility with the functional spaces; to circumvent these difficulties, we use a suitable rescaling and characterize the convergence via cut-off functions. If t is an integer, then these results describe in a precise way the nonlocal-to-local transition. Finally, we also include a nonexistence result of nontrivial nonnegative solutions in a ball for any s > 1 {s>1} .