Sequences of nodal solutions for critical double phase problems with variable exponents

Abstract In this paper, we study a double phase problem with both variable exponents. Such problem has a reaction consisting of a Carathéodory perturbation defined only locally and of a critical term. The presence of the critical term does not permit to use results of the critical point theory for the corresponding energy functional. Consequently, using suitable cut-off functions and truncation techniques we focus on an auxiliary coercive problem on which, differently from our main problem, we can act with variational tools. In this way, we are able to produce a sequence of sign-changing solutions to our main problem converging to 0 in L^ L ∞ and in the Musielak–Orlicz Sobolev space.