Uniform a priori estimates for the n-th order Lane–Emden system in $\mathbb {R}^{n}$ with $n\ge 3$

Abstract

In this paper, we establish uniform a priori estimates for positive solutions to the (higher) critical order superlinear Lane–Emden system in bounded domains with Navier boundary conditions in arbitrary dimensions $n\ge 3$. First, we prove the monotonicity of solutions for odd order (higher order fractional system) and even order system (integer order system) respectively along the inward normal direction near the boundary by the method of moving planes. Then we derive uniform a priori estimates by establishing the precise relationships between the maxima of u, v, $-\Delta u$ and $-\Delta v$ through the Harnack inequality. Our results extended the uniform a priori estimates for critical order problems in Kamburov and Sirakov (Calc Var Partial Differ Equ 57:8, 2018), Kamburov and Sirakov (Uniform a priori estimates for positive solutions of the Lane-Emden system in the plane, arXiv:2205.02587, 2022) from $n=2$ to higher dimensions $n\ge 3$ and in Chen and Wu (Calc Var Partial Differ Equs 60:19, 2021), Clément et al. (Comm Partial Diff Equ 17:923–940, 1992) from one single equation to system. With such a priori estimates, one will be able to obtain the existence of solutions via topological degree theory or a continuation argument.