A mini-max algorithm for semilinear elliptic problems
mountain pass theorem, Pohozaev identity, calculus of variations, nonlinear analysis, algorithm.
We study a general nonlinear elliptic problem in Rnand prove, by means of a variational structure of the problem, the existence of a ground state solution (of minimal energy), which is also the minimum of the functional constrained to the Pohozaev manifold. This minimum coincides the mountain pass level since the associated functional possesses the necessary geometry. We then propose and implement an algorithm for finding numerical ground state solutions for a wide class of elliptic problems in Rn, and provide several examples for which this new method can be applied.