Classification of low energy sign-changing solutions of an almost critical problem

In this paper we make the analysis of the blow up of low energy sign-changing solutions of a semilinear elliptic problem involving nearly critical exponent. Our results allow to classify these solutions according to the concentration speeds of the positive and negative part and, in high dimensions, lead to complete classification of them. Additional qualitative results, such as symmetry or location of the concentration points are obtained when the domain is a ball. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved