On the first curve of the Fučik spectrum of an elliptic operator

We obtain a variational characterization of the first nontrivial curve in the Fucik spectrum of the Laplacian. We study the asymptotic behavior of this first curve and exhibit a connection with the antimaximum principle. We also obtain a nodal domain theorem for the corresponding eigenfunctions. An application to the study of nonresonance is given. © 1994, Khayyam Publishing.