\documentclass[reqno]{amsart} \usepackage{hyperref} \AtBeginDocument{{\noindent\small \emph{Electronic Journal of Differential Equations}, Vol. 2009(2009), No. 131, pp. 1--16.\newline ISSN: 1072-6691. URL: http://ejde.math.txstate.edu or http://ejde.math.unt.edu \newline ftp ejde.math.txstate.edu} \thanks{\copyright 2009 Texas State University - San Marcos.} \vspace{9mm}} \begin{document} \title[\hfilneg EJDE-2009/131\hfil Multiple solutions] {Multiple solutions for nonlinear elliptic equations on Riemannian manifolds} \author[W. Chen, J. Yang \hfil EJDE-2009/131\hfilneg] {Wenjing Chen, Jianfu Yang} % in alphabetical order \address{Wenjing Chen \newline Department of Mathematics, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330022, China} \email{wjchen1102@yahoo.com.cn} \address{Jianfu Yang \newline Department of Mathematics, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330022, China} \email{jfyang\_2000@yahoo.com} \thanks{Submitted September 15, 2009. Published October 9, 2009.} \subjclass[2000]{35J20, 35J61, 58J05} \keywords{Multiple solutions; Semilinear elliptic equation; \hfill\break\indent Riemannian manifold; Ljusternik-Schnirelmann category} \begin{abstract} Let $(\mathcal{M}, g)$ be a compact, connected, orientable, Riemannian $n$-manifold of class $C^{\infty}$ with Riemannian metric $g$ $(n\geq 3)$. We study the existence of solutions to the equation \[ -\varepsilon^2\Delta_{g} u+V(x)u=K(x)|u|^{p-2}u \] on this Riemannian manifold. Here $20, \end{equation} has a positive radial solution $U$; see for instance \cite{bl1}. The function $U$ and its radial derivatives satisfy the following decaying law $$ U(r)\sim e^{-|r|}|r|^{-\frac{n-1}{2}}, \quad \lim_{r\to \infty}\frac{U'(r)}{U(r)}=1, \quad r=|x|. $$ By a result in \cite{k}, $U$ is the unique positive solution of problem (\ref{eq:1.3}). We may verify that $w(z):=\big(\frac{V(\eta)}{K(\eta)}\big)^{1/(p-2)} U\Big(\big(V(\eta)\big)^{1/2}z\Big)$ with $K(\eta)>0$ is a ground state solution of problem \eqref{eq:1.4}; that is, it is the minimizer of the variational problem $$ c_{\eta}:=\inf_{u\in N_{\eta}}E_{\eta}(u), $$ where $$ E_{\eta}(u)=\frac{1}{2}\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}(|\nabla u|^2+V(\eta)u^2)\, dz-\frac{1}{p}\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}K(\eta)|u|^p\,dz $$ is the associated energy functional of problem \eqref{eq:1.4} and $$ N_{\eta}:=\big\{u\in H^1(\mathbb{R}^n)\backslash \{0\}: \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}(|\nabla u|^2+V(\eta)u^2)\,dz=\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}K(\eta)|u|^p\,dz\big\} $$ is the related Nehari manifold. In fact, \[ c_{\eta} = E_{\eta}(w)=\big(\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{p}\big) \frac{V^{\frac{p}{p-2}-\frac{n}{2}}(\eta)}{K^{\frac{2}{p-2}}(\eta)} \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}|U(z)|^p\,dz. \] Let $$ c_0=\inf_{\eta\in \mathcal {M}}c_\eta \quad {\rm and}\quad \Omega:=\{\eta\in \mathcal {M}: c_{\eta}=c_0\}. $$ For $\delta>0$ let $$ \Omega_{\delta}:=\{\xi\in \mathcal {M}: \inf_{\eta\in \Omega}\|\xi-\eta\|_{g}\leq \delta\}. $$ We assume in this paper that $V, K\in C(\mathcal{M},\mathbb{R})$ and there is a positive number $\nu>0$ such that $V, K\geq \nu>0$. Denote by $\mathop{\rm cat}_{X}(A)$ the Ljusternik-Schirelmann category of $A$ in $X$. Let $$ K_{\rm max}= \max_{x\in\mathcal{M}} K(x), \quad K_{\rm min}= \min_{x\in\mathcal{M}} K(x). $$ Our main result is the following. \begin{theorem}\label{th.1.1} Problem \eqref{eq:1.1} has at least $\mathop{\rm cat}_{\Omega_{\delta}}(\Omega)$ positive solutions for $\varepsilon>0$ small. \end{theorem} Solutions of problem \eqref{eq:1.1} will be found as critical points of the associated functional \[ I_{\varepsilon}(u)=\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n} \Big(\frac{1}{2}\int_{\mathcal {M}}\big(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_{g} u(x)|^2+V(x)u^2\big)\, d\mu_{g}-\frac{1 }{p}\int_{\mathcal {M}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\, d\mu_{g}\Big), \] in the Hilbert space $$ H_{g}^1(\mathcal {M}):=\big\{u: \mathcal {M}\to \mathbb{R}: \int_{\mathcal {M}}(|\nabla_{g}u|^2 +u^2)\,d\mu_{g}<\infty\big\} $$ with the norm $$ \|u\|_{g}=\Big(\int_{\mathcal {M}}(|\nabla_{g}u|^2+u^2)\,d\mu_{g}\Big)^{1/2}, $$ where $d\mu_{g}=\sqrt{\det g}dz$ denotes the volume form on $\mathcal {M}$ associated with the metric $g$. For $\sigma>0$, let $$ \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}:=\{u\in \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon} : I_{\varepsilon}(u)< c_0+\sigma\} $$ be a subset of the Nehari manifold \[ \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}:=\big\{u\in H_{g}^1(\mathcal {M}) \backslash \{0\}:\int_{\mathcal{M}}(\varepsilon^2| \nabla_{g} u(x)|^2+V(x)u^2)\, d\mu_{g} =\int_{\mathcal {M}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}\big\} \] related to the functional $I_{\varepsilon}$. To prove Theorem \ref{th.1.1}, we first show that problem \eqref{eq:1.1} has at least $\mathop{\rm cat}_{\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}}\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}$ solutions, then we need to relate $\mathop{\rm cat}_{\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}}\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}$ with $\mathop{\rm cat}_{\Omega_{\delta}}\Omega$. By a result in \cite{h}, we know that $\mathcal {M}$ can be isometrically embedded in a Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^{N}$ as a regular sub-manifold with $N>2n$. For any set $\omega\subset\mathcal {M}$ and $r>0$, we define $$ [\omega]_r:=\{z\in \mathbb{R}^N :\mathop{\rm dist}(z, \omega)\leq r\} $$ a subset of $\mathbb{R}^N$, where $\mathop{\rm dist}(z, \omega)$ denotes the distance between $z$ and $\omega$ with respect to the Euclidian metric in $\mathbb{R}^N$. Let $r = r(\Omega_{\delta})$ be the radius of topological invariance of $\Omega_{\delta}$, which is defined by $$ r(\Omega_{\delta}):=\sup\{l>0 : \mathop{\rm cat}([\Omega_{\delta}]_l) =\mathop{\rm cat}(\Omega_{\delta})\}. $$ We choose $r>0$ so small that the metric projection \[ \Pi : [\Omega_{\delta}]_{r}\subset \mathbb{R}^N\to \Omega_{\delta} \] is well defined. We will construct a function $\phi_{\varepsilon}: \Omega \to \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}$ and a function $\beta: \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}\to [\Omega_{\delta}]_{r}$ such that \[ \Omega\xrightarrow[]{\phi_{\varepsilon}}\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma} \xrightarrow[]{\beta}[\Omega_{\delta}]_r\xrightarrow[]{\Pi} \Omega_{\delta}, \] and $\Pi \circ \beta \circ \phi_{\varepsilon}$ is homotopic to the identity on $\Omega_{\delta}$. It implies that $\mathop{\rm cat}_{\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}}\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}\geq \mathop{\rm cat}_{\Omega_\delta}\Omega$. In section 2, we outline our frame of work. The mappings $\phi_{\varepsilon}$ and $\beta$ are constructed in section 3 and section 4 respectively. \section{The framework and preliminary results} Let $\mathcal {M}$ be a compact Riemannian manifolds of class $C^{\infty}$. On the tangent bundle of $\mathcal {M}$ we define the exponential map $\exp: T\mathcal{M}\to \mathcal {M}$ which has the following properties: (i) $\exp$ is of class $C^{\infty}$; (ii) there exists a constant $R>0$ such that $\exp_x\big|_{B(0,R)}: B(0,R)\to B_{g}(x,R)$ is a diffeomorphism for all $x\in \mathcal {M}$. Fix such an $R$ in this paper and denote by $B(0,R)$ the ball in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ centered at 0 with radius $R$ and $B_{g}(x,R)$ the ball in $\mathcal {M}$ centered at $x$ with radius $R$ with respect to the distance induced by the metric $g$. Let $\mathcal {C}$ be the atlas on $\mathcal {M}$ whose charts are given by the exponential map and $\mathcal {P}=\{\psi_{C}\}_{C\in \mathcal {C} }$ be a partition of unity subordinate to the atlas $\mathcal {C}$. For $u\in H_{g}^1(\mathcal {M})$, we have \[ \int_{\mathcal {M}}|\nabla_{g}u|^2\,d\mu_{g}=\sum_{C\in \mathcal {C}}\int_{C}\psi_{C}(x)|\nabla_{g}u|^2\,d\mu_{g}. \] Moreover, if $u$ has support inside one chart $C=B_{g}(\eta,R)$, then \begin{align*} &\int_{\mathcal {M}}|\nabla_{g}u|^2\,d\mu_{g}\\ &=\int_{B(0, R)}\psi_{C}(\exp_{x_0}(z))g_{x_0}^{ij}(z)\frac{\partial u(\exp_{x_0}(z))}{\partial z_{i}}\frac{\partial u(\exp_{x_0}(z))}{\partial z_{j}} |g_{x_0}(z)|^{1/2}\,dz, \end{align*} where $g_{x_0}$ denotes the Riemannian metric reading in $B(0,R)$ through the normal coordinates defined by the exponential map $\exp_{x_0}$. In particular, $g_{x_0}(0)=Id$. We let $|g_{x_0}(z)|:=det(g_{x_0}(z))$ and $(g^{ij}_{x_0})(z)$ is the inverse matrix of $g_{x_0}(z)$. Since $\mathcal {M}$ is compact, there are two strictly positive constants $h$ and $H$ such that $$ \forall x\in \mathcal {M}, \quad \forall \upsilon\in T_{x}\mathcal {M}, \quad h\|\upsilon\|^2\leq g_{x}(\upsilon, \upsilon)\leq H\|\upsilon\|^2. $$ Hence, we have $$ \forall x\in \mathcal {M}, \quad h^n\leq |g_{x}|\leq H^n. $$ Theorem \ref{th.1.1} will follow from the following result in \cite{mw}. \begin{proposition}\label{Prop.2.1} Let $\mathcal {N}$ be a $C^{1,1}$ complete Riemannian manifold modeled on a Hilbert space and J be a $C^1$ functional on $\mathcal {N}$ bounded from below. If there exists $b>\inf_{\mathcal {N}}J$ such that $J$ satisfies the Palais-Smale condition on the sublevel $J^{-1}(-\infty, b)$, then for any noncritical level a, with $a0$, $C$ is independent of $u$. For $u\in H_{g}^1(\mathcal {M})$, there exists a unique $t_{\varepsilon}(u)>0$, $t_{\varepsilon}: H_{g}^1(\mathcal {M})\backslash\{0\}\to \mathbb{R}^{+}$, such that $t_{\varepsilon}(u)u\in \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$ and $$ I_{\varepsilon}(t_{\varepsilon}(u)u)=\max_{t\geq0}I_{\varepsilon}(tu). $$ More precisely, \begin{equation} \label{eq:3.1} t_{\varepsilon}^{p-2}(u)=\frac{\int_{\mathcal {M}}\left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_{g} u(x)|^2+V(x)u^2\right)\,d\mu_{g}}{\int_{\mathcal {M}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}}. \end{equation} The function $t_{\varepsilon}(u)$ is $C^1$. Let us define a smooth real function $\chi_{R}$ on $\mathbb{R}^{+}$ such that \begin{equation} \label{eq:3.2} \chi_{R}(t):=\begin{cases} 1 & \text{if } 0\leq t\leq \frac{R}{2};\\ 0 & \text{if } t\geq R\,. \end{cases} \end{equation} and $|\chi'_{R}(t)|\leq \frac{2}{R}$. Fixing $\eta\in\Omega$ and $\varepsilon>0$, we define \begin{equation} \label{eq:3.3} W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x):= \begin{cases} w_{\varepsilon}(\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x))\chi_{R}(|\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)|) & \text{if } x\in B_{g}(\eta, R);\\ 0 & \text{otherwise}, \end{cases} \end{equation} where $w(z)$ is the ground state solution of problem \eqref{eq:1.4} and $w_{\varepsilon}(z)=w(\frac{z}{\varepsilon})$. We define $\phi_{\varepsilon}: \Omega\to \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$ by \begin{equation}\label{eq:3.4} \phi_{\varepsilon}(\eta) = t_{\varepsilon}(W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x))W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x). \end{equation} \begin{lemma}\label{le:3.2} With the above notation, we have \begin{gather} \label{eq:3.5} \frac{1}{\varepsilon^{n}}\int_{\mathcal {M}}\varepsilon^2|\nabla_{g}W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x)|^2\,d\mu_{g} \to \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}|\nabla w|^2 dz \quad \text{as } \varepsilon\to 0. \\ \label{eq:3.6} \frac{1}{\varepsilon^{n}}\int_{\mathcal {M}}V(x)|W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x)|^2\,d\mu_{g} \to \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}V(\eta)w^2(z) dz \quad \text{as } \varepsilon\to 0, \\ \label{eq:3.7} \frac{1}{\varepsilon^{n}}\int_{\mathcal {M}}K(x)|W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x)|^p\ \mu_{g} \to \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}K(\eta)w^p(z) dz \quad \text{as } \varepsilon\to 0. \end{gather} \end{lemma} \begin{proof} We have \begin{align*} &\Big|\frac{1}{\varepsilon^{n}}\int_{\mathcal {M}}\varepsilon^2|\nabla_{g}W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x)|^2\,d\mu_{g} -\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}|\nabla w|^2 dz\Big|\\ &= \Big|\frac{1}{\varepsilon^{n}}\int_{B_g(\eta, R)}\varepsilon^2 \big|\nabla_{g}\left(w_{\varepsilon}(\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)) \chi_{R}(|\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)|)\right)\big|^2\,d\mu_{g} -\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}|\nabla w|^2 dz\Big|\\ &= \Big|\frac{1}{\varepsilon^{n}}\int_{B(0, R)}\varepsilon^2 \big|\nabla\left(w_{\varepsilon}(z) \chi_{R}(|z|)\right)\big|_{g}^2|g_{\eta}(z)|^{1/2}\,dz -\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}|\nabla w|^2 dz\Big|\\ &= \Big|\int_{B(0, \frac{R}{\varepsilon})}\left|\nabla\left(w(z) \chi_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}}(|z|)\right)\right|_{g}^2\left|g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)\right|^{1/2}\,dz -\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}|\nabla w|^2 dz\Big|\\ &\leq \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\Big|\sum_{i,j=1}^{n} \frac{\partial w(z)}{\partial z_i}\frac{\partial w(z)}{\partial z_j}\left|\chi^2_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}} (|z|)g^{ij}_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|^{1/2} -\delta_{ij}\right|\Big|\, dz\\ &\quad +\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\Big|\sum_{i,j=1}^{n}g^{ij}_{\eta} (\varepsilon z) \chi_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}}(|z|)w(z) \left(\frac{\partial w}{\partial z_i} \frac{\partial \chi_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}}(|z|)}{\partial z_j} +\frac{\partial w}{\partial z_j} \frac{\partial \chi_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}}(|z|)}{\partial z_i} \right)\Big||g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|^{1/2}\,dz\\ &\quad +\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\Big|\sum_{i,j=1}^{n}g^{ij}_{\eta}(\varepsilon z) w^2(z)\frac{\partial \chi_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}}(|z|)}{\partial z_i} \frac{\partial \chi_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}}(|z|)}{\partial z_j}\Big| |g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|^{1/2}\,dz:=I_1+I_2+I_3. \end{align*} By the compactness of the manifold $\mathcal {M}$ and regularity of the exponential map of the Riemannian metric $g$, we have $$ \lim_{\varepsilon\to 0}\big|\chi^2_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}} (|z|)g^{ij}_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|^{1/2}-\delta_{ij}\big|=0 $$ uniformly with respect to $\eta\in \Omega$, so $I_1\to 0$ as $\varepsilon\to 0$. By the definition of $\chi_{R}(t)$, \begin{align*} I_2 &\leq \frac{H^{n/2}}{h}\int_{\mathbb{R}^n} \Big|\sum_{i,j=1}^{n} w(z)\Big(\frac{\partial w}{\partial z_i} \frac{\partial \chi_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}}(|z|)}{\partial z_j}+\frac{\partial w}{\partial z_j} \frac{\partial \chi_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon}}(|z|)}{\partial z_i}\Big) \Big|\,dz\\ &\leq \frac{4H^{n/2}\varepsilon}{Rh}\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\left|w(z) \right|\left|\nabla w(z)\right|\, dz\\ &= \frac{4H^{n/2}\varepsilon}{Rh}\left(\frac{V(\eta)}{K(\eta)}\right) ^{2/(p-2)}V(\eta)^{-n/2}\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\left|U (z)\right|\left|\nabla U(z)\right|\,dz\\ &\leq \frac{2H^{n/2}\varepsilon}{Rh}\frac{V^{\frac{2}{p-2} -\frac{n}{2}}(\eta)}{K^{\frac{2}{p-2}}(\eta)} \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}(|\nabla U(z)|^2 +|U (z)|^2)\,dz. \end{align*} Similarly, \[ I_3 \leq\frac{H^{n/2}}{h}\frac{4\varepsilon^2}{R^2} \frac{V^{\frac{2}{p-2}-\frac{n}{2}}(\eta)}{K^{\frac{2}{p-2}}(\eta)} \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}U(z)^2\,dz. \] Hence, $I_2+I_3\to 0$ uniformly with respect to $\eta\in \Omega$ as $\varepsilon\to 0$ and (\ref{eq:3.5}) follows. Next, we prove (\ref{eq:3.6}). We have \begin{align*} &\Big|\frac{1}{\varepsilon^{n}}\int_{\mathcal {M}}V(x)|W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x)|^2\,d\mu_{g}-\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}V(\eta)w^2(z) dz\Big|\\ &= \Big|\frac{1}{\varepsilon^{n}}\int_{B_g(\eta, R)}V(x) |w_{\varepsilon}(\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x))\chi_{R}(|\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)|)|^2\,d\mu_{g}-\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}V(\eta)w^2(z) dz\Big|\\ &= \Big|\frac{1}{\varepsilon^{n}}\int_{B(0, R)}V(\exp_{\eta}(z))|w_{\varepsilon}(z)\chi_{R}(|z|)|^2|g_{\eta}(z) |^{1/2}\,dz-\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}V(\eta)w^2(z) dz\Big|\\ &= \Big|\int_{B(0, \frac{R}{\varepsilon})}V(\exp_{\eta}(\varepsilon z))|w(z)\chi_{R}(|\varepsilon z|)|^2 |g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|^{1/2}\,dz-\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}V(\eta)w^2(z)\, dz \Big|\\ &\leq \Big|\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\left[V(\exp_{\eta}(\varepsilon z))|\chi_{R}(|\varepsilon z|)|^2 |g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|^{1/2}-V(\eta)\right]w^2(z) dz\Big|\\ &\quad +\Big|\int_{\mathbb{R}^n\backslash B(0, \frac{R}{\varepsilon})} \left[V(\exp_{\eta}(\varepsilon z))|\chi_{R}(|\varepsilon z|)|^2 |g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|^{1/2}-V(\eta)\right] w^2(z) dz\Big|\\ &:= I_4+I_5. \end{align*} We note that $\exp_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)\to \eta$ and $g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)\to \delta_{ij}$ as $\varepsilon \to 0$, by the continuity of $V$, $I_4\to 0$. Obviously, $I_5\to 0$. So (\ref{eq:3.6}) holds. (\ref{eq:3.7}) can be proved in the same way. \end{proof} \begin{proposition}\label{prop:3.1} For $\varepsilon>0$, the map $\phi_{\varepsilon} : \Omega\to \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$ is continuous; and for any $\sigma>0$, there exists $\varepsilon_0>0$ such that if $\varepsilon<\varepsilon_0$ $\phi_{\varepsilon}(\eta)\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}$ for all $\eta\in \Omega$. \end{proposition} \begin{proof} The continuity of $\phi_{\varepsilon}$ can be proved as \cite[Proposition 4.2]{bbm}, so we omit the details. Now, we show $\phi_{\varepsilon}(\eta)\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}$ for $\forall \eta\in \Omega$. By Lemma \ref{le:3.2}, \begin{align*} t_{\varepsilon}^{p-2}(W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x)) &= \frac{\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}\varepsilon^2|\nabla_{g} W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x)(x)|^2d \mu_{g}+\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}V(x)\left(W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x)\right)^2\,d \mu_{g}}{\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}K(x)|W^{+}_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x)|^p\,d\mu_{g}}\\ & \to \frac{\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}|\nabla w(z)|^2\,dz+\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}V(\eta)w^2(z)\,dz}{\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}K(\eta)w^p(z)\,dz}=1. \end{align*} Consequently, \begin{align*} I_{\varepsilon}(\phi_{\varepsilon}(\eta)) &= I_{\varepsilon}(t_{\varepsilon}(W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x))W_{\eta, \varepsilon}(x))\\ &= \frac{1}{2}\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}(|\nabla w(z)|^2+V(\eta)w^2(z))\, dz-\frac{1}{p}\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}K(\eta)w^p(z)\,dz+o(1)\\ &= c_\eta+o(1)=c_0+o(1) \end{align*} uniformly with respect to $\eta\in \Omega$ and the proof is completed. \end{proof} \section{The function $\beta$} Let us define the center of mass $\beta(u)\in \mathbb{R}^N$ for $u\in \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$ by $$ \beta(u):=\frac{\int_{\mathcal {M}}x|u^{+}(x)|^p\,d\mu_{g}}{\int_{\mathcal {M}}|u^{+}(x)|^p\,d\mu_{g}}. $$ The function $\beta$ is well defined on $u\in \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$ since $u^{+}\not\equiv 0$ if $u\in \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$. Let \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.a0} m_{\varepsilon}:=\inf_{u\in \mathcal{N}_{\varepsilon}}I_{\varepsilon}(u), \end{equation} which is achieved as $\mathcal {M}$ is compact. Since $K(x), V(x)$ are bounded, we may show the following result as in \cite[Lemma 5.1]{bbm}. \begin{lemma}\label{le:4.1} There exists a number $\alpha>0$ such that for any $\varepsilon>0$, $m_{\varepsilon}\geq\alpha$. \end{lemma} For a given $\varepsilon>0$, let $\mathcal {P}_{\varepsilon}=\{P_j^{\varepsilon}\}_{j\in \Lambda_{\varepsilon}}$ be a finite good partition of the manifold $\mathcal {M}$ introduced in \cite{bbm}: if for any $j\in \Lambda_{\varepsilon}$ the set partition $P_j^{\varepsilon}$ is closed; $P_j^{\varepsilon}\cap P_i^{\varepsilon}\subseteq \partial P_j^{\varepsilon}\cap \partial P_i^{\varepsilon}$ for any $i\neq j$; there exist $r_1(\varepsilon)\geq r_2(\varepsilon)>0$ such that there are points $q_j^{\varepsilon}\in P_j^{\varepsilon}$ for any $j$, satisfying $B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, \varepsilon)\subset P_j^{\varepsilon}\subset B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_2(\varepsilon))\subset B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))$ and any point $x\in \mathcal {M}$ is contained in at most $N_{\mathcal {M}}$ balls $B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))$, where $N_{\mathcal {M}}$ does not depend on $\varepsilon$. This last condition can be satisfied for $\varepsilon$ small enough by the compactness of $\mathcal {M}$, and $r_1(\varepsilon)$, $r_2(\varepsilon)$ can be chosen so that $r_1(\varepsilon)\geq r_2(\varepsilon)\geq (1+\frac{1}{\Theta})\varepsilon$ with a constant $\Theta$ independent on $\varepsilon$. We may assume that the value $\varepsilon_0$ of Proposition \ref{prop:3.1} is small enough for the manifold $\mathcal {M} $ to have good partitions. \begin{lemma}\label{le:4.2} There exists a constant $\gamma>0$ such that for any fixed $\sigma>0$, $\varepsilon\in (0, \varepsilon_0)$ and function $u\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}$, there exists a set $\tilde{P}_{\sigma}^{\varepsilon}\in \mathcal {P}_{\varepsilon}$ such that $$ \frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\tilde{P}_{\sigma}^{\varepsilon}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_g\geq\gamma. $$ \end{lemma} \begin{proof} Fixed $\sigma>0$ and $0<\varepsilon< \varepsilon_0$. Then for any $u\in \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$ and any good partition $\mathcal {P}_{\varepsilon}=\{P_j^{\varepsilon}\}_{j\in \Lambda_{\varepsilon}}$, let $u_j^{+}=u^{+}$ on the set $P_j^{\varepsilon}$. Then \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.a} \begin{aligned} &\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_{g} u(x)|^2+V(x)u^2)\,d\mu_{g}\\ &=\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}\\ &= \frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\sum_{j\in \Lambda_{\varepsilon}}\int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}\\ &\leq \max_j\Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}}K(x) |u_j^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}\Big)^{\frac{p-2}{p}}\sum_{j\in \Lambda_{\varepsilon}}\Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n} \int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}}K(x)|u_j^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}\Big)^{2/p}. \end{aligned} \end{equation} Let \[ \chi_{\varepsilon}(t):= \begin{cases} 1 & \text{if } t\leq r_2(\varepsilon);\\ 0 & \text{if } t> r_1(\varepsilon) \end{cases} \] be a smooth cutoff function, where $r_1(\varepsilon), r_2(\varepsilon)$ are defined above for good partitions, and assume that $|\chi'_{\varepsilon}|\leq \frac{\Theta}{\varepsilon}$ uniformly. Let $$ \tilde{u}_j(x)=u^{+}(x)\chi_{\varepsilon}(|x-q_j^{\varepsilon}|). $$ We know that $\tilde{u}_j(x)\in H_g^1(\mathcal {M})$, and $supt(\tilde{u}_j(x))=B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))$. By the definition of $u_j^{+}$, we have $u_j^{+}=u^{+}$ on the set $P_j^{\varepsilon}\subset B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_2(\varepsilon))\subset B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))$. By the Sobolev inequality there exists a positive constant $C$ such that for any $j$, \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.b} \begin{aligned} &\Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}}K(x)|u_j^{+} |^p\,d\mu_g\Big)^{2/p}\\ &=\Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_g\Big)^{2/p} \\ &\leq \Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_2(\varepsilon))}K(x)|u^{+}\chi_{\varepsilon}(|x-q_j^{\varepsilon}|)|^p\,d\mu_g\Big)^{2/p} \\ &\leq \Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))}K(x)|u^{+}\chi_{\varepsilon}(|x-q_j^{\varepsilon}|)|^p \, d\mu_g\Big)^{2/p}\\ &=\Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}K(x)|\tilde{u}_j|^p\,d\mu_g\Big)^{2/p}\\ &\leq K_{\rm max}^{2/p}\Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n} \int_{\mathcal {M}}|\tilde{u}_j|^p\, d\mu_g\Big)^{2/p}\\ &\leq K_{\rm max}^{2/p}C\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}} \left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g \tilde{u}_j|^2+|\tilde{u}_j|^2\right)\, d\mu_g\\ &= K_{\rm max}^{2/p}C\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}} \left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g \tilde{u}_j|^2+|\tilde{u}_j|^2\right)d\mu_g\\ &\quad+ K_{\rm max}^{2/p}C\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))\backslash P_j^{\varepsilon}} \left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g \tilde{u}_j|^2+|\tilde{u}_j|^2\right)d\mu_g\\ &\leq K_{\rm max}^{2/p}C\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}} \left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g u_j^{+}|^2+|u_j^{+}|^2\right)d\mu_g\\ &\quad +K_{\rm max}^{2/p}C\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n} \int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))\backslash P_j^{\varepsilon}} \left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g \tilde{u}_j|^2+|\tilde{u}_j|^2\right)d\mu_g. \end{aligned} \end{equation} Moveover \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.c} \int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))\backslash P_j^{\varepsilon}} |\tilde{u}_j|^2d\mu_g \leq\int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))\backslash P_j^{\varepsilon}} |u^{+}|^2d\mu_g, \end{equation} and \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.d} \begin{aligned} &\int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))\backslash P_j^{\varepsilon}}\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g \tilde{u}_j|^2d\mu_g\\ &=\int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))\backslash P_j^{\varepsilon}}\varepsilon^2\left|\nabla_g \left(u^{+}(x)\chi_{\varepsilon}(|x-q_j^{\varepsilon}|)\right)\right|^2d\mu_g\\ &\leq 2\int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))\backslash P_j^{\varepsilon}}\varepsilon^2\left(|\nabla_g u^{+}|^2\chi^2_{\varepsilon}(|x-q_j^{\varepsilon}|)+\left(\chi'_{\varepsilon}(|x-q_j^{\varepsilon}|)\right)^2 |u^{+}|^2\right)d \mu_g\\ &\leq 2\int_{B_g(q_j^{\varepsilon}, r_1(\varepsilon))\backslash P_j^{\varepsilon}}\left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g u^{+}|^2+\Theta^2|u^{+}|^2\right)d \mu_g. \end{aligned} \end{equation} Substituting (\ref{eq:4.c}) and (\ref{eq:4.d}) into (\ref{eq:4.b}), we get \begin{align*} \Big((\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}}K(x)|u_j^{+}|^p\, d\mu_g\Big)^{2/p} &\leq K_{\rm max}^{2/p}C\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}} \left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g u_j^{+}|^2+|u_j^{+}|^2\right)d\mu_g\\ &\quad +K_{\rm max}^{2/p}CC'\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n} \int_{\mathcal {M}}\left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g u^{+}|^2+|u^{+}|^2\right)d\mu_g, \end{align*} where $C'=\max\{2, 2\Theta^2+1\}$. Hence, \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.e} \begin{aligned} &\sum_{j\in \Lambda_{\varepsilon}} \Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}}K(x)|u_j^{+}|^p \,d\mu_g\Big)^{2/p}\\ &\leq K_{\rm max}^{2/p}C\sum_{j\in \Lambda_{\varepsilon}}\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}\left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g u_j^{+}|^2+|u_j^{+}|^2\right)d\mu_g \\ &\quad +K_{\rm max}^{2/p}CC'N_{\mathcal {M}}\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}\left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g u^{+}|^2+|u^{+}|^2\right)d\mu_g\\ &\leq K_{\rm max}^{2/p}C(C'+1)N_{\mathcal {M}}\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}\left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g u^{+}|^2+|u^{+}|^2\right)d\mu_g\\ &\leq K_{\rm max}^{2/p}C(C'+1)N_{\mathcal {M}}\max\left\{1,\frac{1}{\nu}\right\}\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}} \left(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_gu|^2+V(x)|u|^2\right)d\mu_g \end{aligned} \end{equation} From (\ref{eq:4.a}) and (\ref{eq:4.e}) we have \begin{align*} \max_{j}\Big\{\Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}\Big)^{\frac{p-2}{p}}\Big\} &\geq \frac{\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_{g} u(x)|^2+V(x)u^2)\,d\mu_{g}}{\sum_{j\in \Lambda_{\varepsilon}} \Big(\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{P_j^{\varepsilon}}K(x)|u_j^{+}|^p\,d\mu_g\Big)^{2/p}}\\ &\geq \frac{1}{K^{2/p}_{\rm max}C(C'+1)N_{\mathcal {M}}\max\{1,\frac{1}{\nu}\}}. \end{align*} Thus, the proof is completed. \end{proof} \begin{lemma}\label{le:4.3} Let $\sigma$ and $\varepsilon$ be fixed, and $I_{\varepsilon}^{m_{\varepsilon}+2\sigma}:=\{u\in \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}| I_{\varepsilon}(u)< m_{\varepsilon}+2\sigma\}$, where $ m_{\varepsilon}$ is defined in (\ref{eq:4.a0}). For any $u\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}\cap I_{\varepsilon}^{m_{\varepsilon}+2\sigma}$ there exists $u_{\sigma}\in \mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$ such that \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.8} I_{\varepsilon}(u_{\sigma})< I_{\varepsilon}(u), \quad \||u_{\sigma}-u|\|_{\varepsilon}<4\sqrt{\sigma}, \end{equation} where $\||u|\|_{\varepsilon}^2=\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}(\varepsilon^2|\nabla_g u|^2+u^2)\,d\mu_g$, and \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.9} \big|\nabla|_{\mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}}I_{\varepsilon}(u_{\sigma})\big| <\sqrt{\sigma}\||\xi|\|_{\varepsilon}. \end{equation} \end{lemma} The above result follows by the Ekeland principle, also by the proof in \cite[Lemma 5.4]{bbm}. Let $u_k\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon_k, \sigma_k}\cap I_{\varepsilon_k}^{m_{\varepsilon_k}+2\sigma_k}$, where $\varepsilon_k, \sigma_k\to 0$ as $k\to\infty$. For all $k$, the map $\exp_{\eta_k}: T_{\eta_k}\mathcal {M}\to\mathcal {M}$ is a diffeomorphism on the ball $B_g(\eta_k, R)$. Let $\{\psi_c\}$ be a partition of unity induced on $\mathcal {M}$ by the cover of balls of radius $R$. By the compactness of $\mathcal {M}$, we can assume that there exists $\rho>0$ such that for all $k$ \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.5} \min\big\{\psi_{B_g(\eta_k,R)}(x)| x\in B_g(\eta_k, \frac{R}{\rho})\big\}\geq \psi_0>0. \end{equation} Let $$ \varphi_k: B_g\big(\eta_k, \frac{R}{\rho}\big)\to B\big(0, \frac{R}{\varepsilon_k\rho}\big)\subset \mathbb{R}^n, \quad \varphi_k:=\frac{\exp_{\eta_k}^{-1}}{\varepsilon_k} $$ and define $w_k: \mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}$ by $$ w_k(z):=\chi_k(z)u_k(\varphi_k^{-1}(z))=\chi_{R}\left(\varepsilon_k|z|\rho\right) u_k(\exp_{\eta_k}(\varepsilon_kz)) =\chi_{\frac{R}{\rho}}(|\exp_{\eta_k}^{-1}(x)|)u_k(x), $$ where $x=\exp_{\eta_k}(\varepsilon_kz)\in \Omega$ and $\chi_k(z):=\chi_{\frac{R}{\varepsilon_k\rho}}(|z|)$. Then, $w_k\in H_0^1\left(B\left(0,\frac{R}{\varepsilon_k\rho}\right)\right)\subset H^1(\mathbb{R}^n)$. \begin{lemma}\label{le:4.5} There exists $\tilde{w}\in H^1(\mathbb{R}^n)$ such that, up to a subsequence, $w_k$ tends to $\tilde{w}$ weakly in $H^1(\mathbb{R}^n)$ and strongly in $L_{loc}^p(\mathbb{R}^n)$. The limit function $\tilde{w}$ is a ground state solution of the problem \begin{equation}\label{eq:A} -\Delta u+V(\eta)u=K(\eta)|u|^{p-2}u, \quad \text{on }\mathbb{R}^n. \end{equation} \end{lemma} \begin{proof} We first show that $w_k$ is bounded in $H^1(\mathbb{R}^n)$. There holds $$ I_{\varepsilon_k}(u_k)=\big(\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{p}\big)\frac{1}{\varepsilon_k^n} \int_{\mathcal {M}}\left(\varepsilon^2|u_k|^2+ V(x)u_k^2\right)\,d\mu_g0$, we can choose $\eta_k\in\mathcal {M}$ such that for $k$ big enough $\eta_k\in \tilde{P}^{\varepsilon_k}_{\sigma}\subset B_g(\eta_k, \varepsilon_kT), \varepsilon_k<\frac{R}{\rho}$. By Lemma \ref{le:4.2}, \begin{align*} \|w_k^+\|^p_{L^p(B(0,T))} &= \int_{B(0, T)}\chi^p_k(z)\left|u^{+}_k(\varphi_k^{-1}(z))\right|^p\,dz\\ &=\frac{1}{\varepsilon_k^n}\int_{B(0, \varepsilon_kT)}\Big|u^+_k\Big(\varphi_k^{-1}(\frac{z}{\varepsilon_k}) \Big)\Big|^p\,dz\\ &\geq \frac{1}{H^{n/2}}\frac{1}{\varepsilon_k^n}\int_{B(0, \varepsilon_kT)}\Big|u^+_k\Big(\varphi_k^{-1}(\frac{z}{\varepsilon_k}) \Big)\Big|^p|g_{\eta_k}(\varepsilon_k z)|^{1/2}\,dz\\ &\geq \frac{1}{K_{\rm max}H^{n/2}}\frac{1}{\varepsilon_k^n}\int_{B_g(\eta_k, \varepsilon_kT)}K(x)\left|u^+_k(x)\right|^p\,d\mu_g\\ &\geq \frac{1}{K_{\rm max}H^{n/2}}\frac{1}{\varepsilon_k^n} \int_{\tilde{P}^{\varepsilon_k}_{\sigma}}K(x)\left|u^+_k(x)\right|^p\,d\mu_g\\ &\geq \frac{\gamma}{K_{\rm max}H^{n/2}} \end{align*} This implies $\tilde{w}\not\equiv 0$ because $w_k$ converges strongly to $\tilde{w}$ in $L^p(B(0,T))$. The assertion then follows. \end{proof} \begin{proposition}\label{prop:4.1} For $\theta\in (0,1)$ there exists $\sigma_0< c_0$ such that for $\sigma\in (0, \sigma_0)$, $\varepsilon\in (0,\varepsilon_0)$ and $u=u_{\varepsilon,\sigma}\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}$ we can find $\eta=\eta(u)\in \Omega$ such that $$ \frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{B_g(\eta,\frac{R}{2})}K(x)|u^+|^{p}\,d\mu_g >\frac{2p(1-\theta)}{p-2}c_0. $$ \end{proposition} \begin{proof} First, we show that the result holds for $u\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}\cap I_{\varepsilon}^{m_{\varepsilon}+2\sigma}$. Suppose by contradiction that there exists $\theta\in (0, 1)$ such that we can find sequences $\varepsilon_k$ and $\sigma_k$, which are positive and tending to zero as $k\to \infty$, and a sequence $\{u_k\}\subset \Sigma_{\varepsilon_k, \sigma_k}\cap I_{\varepsilon_k}^{m_{\varepsilon_k}+2\sigma_k}$ such that for any $\eta\in \Omega$ there holds \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.10} \frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{B_g(\eta,\frac{R}{2})}K(x)|u_k^{+}|^p \,d\mu_g\leq \frac{2p(1-\theta)}{p-2}c_0. \end{equation} By Lemma \ref{le:4.3}, we may assume that \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.11} \left|\nabla|_{\mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon_k}}I_{\varepsilon_k}(u_{k})\right| <\sqrt{\sigma_k}\||\xi|\|_{\varepsilon_k}\ \ \ \forall \xi\in H^1_g(\mathcal {M}). \end{equation} Lemma \ref{le:4.2} implies that there exists a set $P_k$ of the partition $\mathcal {P}_{\varepsilon}$ such that $$ \frac{1}{\varepsilon_{k}^n}\int_{P_k}K(x)|u_k^{+}|^p\,d\mu_g>\gamma, $$ and we may choose $\eta_k\in P_k$. By the compactness of $\mathcal{M}$, we may assume that $\eta_k\to \eta \in\mathcal {M}$ as $k\to\infty$. By the hypothesis on $K$, $K_{\rm min}>0$. We claim that for any $T>0$ and $\tau\in (0,1)$ it holds \[ |w_k^+|_{L^p(B(0,T))}^p\leq\frac{1}{K_{\rm min}} \frac{1}{1-\tau}(1-\theta)\frac{2p}{p-2}c_0 \] for $k$ large enough. Indeed, we note $|g_{\eta_k}(\varepsilon_kz)|\to|g_{\eta}(0)|=1$ for all $z\in B(0,R)$ and fixed $\tau\in (0, 1)$. For $k$ large enough, $|g_{\eta_k}(z)|>(1-\tau)$ if $z\in B(0,\varepsilon_kT)$. By this fact and (\ref{eq:4.10}) we have \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.12} \begin{aligned} |w_k^+|_{L^p(B(0,T))}^p &= \int_{B(0,T)}\chi^p_k(z)\left|u_k^{+}(\varphi_k^{-1}(z))\right|^p\,dz\\ &=\frac{1}{\varepsilon_k^n}\int_{B(0,\varepsilon_kT)} \chi^p_{\frac{R}{\rho}}(z) \left|u_k^{+}(\exp_{\eta_k}(z))\right|^p\,dz \\ &\leq \frac{1}{\varepsilon_k^n}\int_{B(0,\varepsilon_kT)} \frac{|g_{\eta_k}(z)|^{1/2}}{1-\tau} \left|u_k^{+}(\exp_{\eta_k}(z))\right|^p\,dz\\ &=\frac{1}{1-\tau}\frac{1}{\varepsilon_k^n}\int_{B_g(\eta_k, \varepsilon_kT)}|u_k^{+}|^p\,d\mu_g \\ &\leq \frac{1}{(1-\tau)\varepsilon_k^n K_{\rm min}}\int_{B_g(\eta_k, \frac{R}{2})}K(x)|u_k^{+}|^p\,d\mu_g\\ &\leq\frac{1}{K_{\rm min}}\frac{1-\theta}{1-\tau}\frac{2p}{p-2}c_0. \end{aligned} \end{equation} We know from Lemma \ref{le:4.5} that $\tilde{w}$ is a ground state solution of problem (\ref{eq:A}); that is, $$ E_{\eta}(\tilde{w})=\big(\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{p}\big) \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}K(\eta)|\tilde{w}^+|^p\,dz=c_0. $$ By Lemma \ref{le:4.5}, there exists $T>0$ such that for $k$ large enough $$ \frac{2p}{p-2}c_0=\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}K(\eta)|\tilde{w}^+|^p\,dz \leq\int_{B(0, T)}K(\eta)|w_k^+|^p\,dz \leq K_{\rm max}\int_{B(0, T)}|w_k^+|^p\,dz. $$ Choosing $\mu>K_{\rm max}/K_{\rm min}$ and $\tau$ such that $\frac{1-\theta}{1-\tau}<\frac{1-\theta}{1-\tau}\mu<1$, we obtain \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.13} \frac{1}{K_{\rm min}}\frac{1-\theta}{1-\tau}\frac{2p}{p-2}c_0 <\frac{\mu}{K_{\rm max}}\frac{1-\theta}{1-\tau}\frac{2p}{p-2}c_0 <\int_{B(0, T)}|w_k^+|^p\,dz \end{equation} a contradiction to (\ref{eq:4.12}). Next, we show that $\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}\cap I_{\varepsilon}^{m_{\varepsilon}+2\sigma}=\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}$. In fact, for $u\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}\cap I_{\varepsilon}^{m_{\varepsilon}+2\sigma}$, we have $I_{\varepsilon}(u)< c_0+\sigma$ and $I_{\varepsilon}(u)< m_{\varepsilon}+2\sigma$, which yield $m_{\varepsilon}\geq(1-\theta)c_0$ for any $\theta\in (0,1)$. By Proposition \ref{prop:3.1}, $\lim\sup_{\varepsilon\to 0}m_{\varepsilon}\leq c_0$, and then $\lim_{\varepsilon\to 0}m_{\varepsilon}=c_0$, which implies $\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}\subset I_{\varepsilon}^{m_{\varepsilon}+2\sigma}$ for $\sigma, \varepsilon$ small enough. The proof is completed. \end{proof} \begin{proposition}\label{prop:4.2} There exists $\sigma_0\in (0, c_0)$ such that for $\sigma\in (0, \sigma_0)$, $\varepsilon\in (0, \varepsilon_0)$ and $u\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon,\sigma}$ there holds $\beta(u)\in [\Omega_{\delta}]_r$. \end{proposition} \begin{proof} By Proposition \ref{prop:4.1}, for $\theta\in (0, 1)$ and $u\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon,\sigma}$ with $\varepsilon$ and $\sigma$ suitably small, there exists $\eta\in \Omega$ such that \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.14} (1-\theta)\frac{2p}{p-2}c_0<\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{B_g(\eta, \frac{R}{2})}K(x)|u^+|^p\,d\mu_g. \end{equation} On the other hand, for $u\in \Sigma_{\varepsilon,\sigma}$, we have \[ I_{\varepsilon}(u) = \frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\frac{p-2}{2p}\int_{\mathcal {M}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}< c_0+\sigma, \] therefore, \begin{equation} \label{eq:4.15} \frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}\leq\frac{1}{K_{\rm min}}\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}K(x)|u^{+}|^p\,d\mu_{g}< \frac{1}{K_{\rm min}}\frac{2p}{p-2}\left(c_0+\sigma\right). \end{equation} Let $$ f\left(u(x)\right):=\frac{|u^+(x)|^p}{\int_{\mathcal {M}}|u^+(x)|^p\,d\mu_g}. $$ By (\ref{eq:4.14}) and (\ref{eq:4.15}), \[ \int_{B_g(\eta, \frac{R}{2})}f\left(u(x)\right)\,d\mu_g \geq\frac{\frac{1}{K_{\rm max}}\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{B_g(\eta, \frac{R}{2})}K(x)|u^+(x)|^p\,d \mu_g}{\frac{1}{\varepsilon^n}\int_{\mathcal {M}}|u^+(x)|^p\,d\mu_g}> \frac{K_{\rm min}(1-\theta)c_0}{K_{\rm max}(c_0+\sigma)}. \] Therefore, \begin{align*} |\beta(u)- \eta| &\leq \Big|\int_{B_g(\eta, \frac{R}{2})}(x-\eta)f\left(u(x)\right) \,d\mu_g\Big|+ \Big|\int_{\mathcal {M}\backslash B_g(\eta, \frac{R}{2})} (x-\eta)f\left(u(x)\right)\,d\mu_g\Big|\\ &\leq \frac{r(\Omega_{\delta})}{2}+D\Big(1- \frac{K_{\rm min}(1-\theta)c_0}{K_{\rm max}(c_0+\sigma)}\Big), \end{align*} where $D$ is the diameter of $\Omega_{\delta}$ as a subset of $\mathcal {M}$. The assertion follows by choosing $\theta$ and $\sigma$ suitably small. \end{proof} \begin{proof}[Proof of Theorem \ref{th.1.1}] We know that $I_{\varepsilon}\in C^1$ and $\mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$ is a $C^{1,1}$ complete Riemannian manifold. Also $I_{\varepsilon}$ is bounded from below on $\mathcal {N}_{\varepsilon}$ and satisfies the $(PS)$ condition. By Proposition \ref{Prop.2.1}, $I_{\varepsilon}$ has at least $\mathop{\rm cat}_{\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}}(\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma})$ critical points. By Propositions \ref{prop:3.1} and \ref{prop:4.1}, $\beta \circ \phi_{\varepsilon}: \Omega\to [\Omega_{\delta}]_r$ is well defined and $\beta \circ \phi_{\varepsilon}(\eta)\in [\Omega_{\delta}]_{r}\subset \mathbb{R}^N$ for $\eta\in \Omega$. Now we show that $\Pi \circ \beta \circ \phi_{\varepsilon}$ is homotopic to the identity on $\Omega_{\delta}$. Indeed, \begin{align*} \Pi \circ \beta \circ \phi_{\varepsilon}(\eta)-\eta & = \int_{\mathcal {M}}(x-\eta) f\left(\phi_{\varepsilon}(\eta)\right)\,d\mu_g\\ &= \int_{\mathcal {M}}(x-\eta) f\Big(t_{\varepsilon}(w_{\varepsilon}(\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)) \chi_{R}(|\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)|))\\ &\quad\times w_{\varepsilon}(\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x))\chi_{R}(|\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)|)\Big) \,d\mu_g\\ &= \frac{\int_{\mathcal {M}}(x-\eta)w^p_{\varepsilon}(\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)) \chi^p_{R}(|\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)|)\,d\mu_g}{\int_{\mathcal {M}}w^p_{\varepsilon}(\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x))\chi^p_{R} (|\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)|)\,d\mu_g}\\ &=\frac{\int_{B_g(\eta,R)}(x-\eta)w^p_{\varepsilon} (\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x))\chi^p_{R}(|\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)|)\,d\mu_g} {\int_{B_g(\eta,R)}w^p_{\varepsilon}(\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)) \chi^p_{R}(|\exp_{\eta}^{-1}(x)|)\,d \mu_g}\\ &= \frac{\int_{B(0,R)}zw^p_{\varepsilon}(z) \chi^p_{R}(|z|)|g_{\eta}(z)|^{1/2}\,dz} {\int_{B(0,R)}w^p_{\varepsilon}(z)\chi^p_{R}(|z|)|g_{\eta}(z)|^{1/2}\,dz}\\ &=\frac{\varepsilon\int_{B(0, \frac{R}{\varepsilon})}zw^p(z)\chi^p_{R} (|\varepsilon z|)|g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|^{1/2}\,dz} {\int_{B(0,\frac{R}{\varepsilon})}w^p(z)\chi^p_{R}(|\varepsilon z|)|g_{\eta}(\varepsilon z)|^{1/2}\,dz}. \end{align*} Hence, $|\Pi \circ \beta \circ \phi_{\varepsilon}(\eta)-\eta|\leq \varepsilon C\to 0$, where $C>0$ does not depend on $\eta$. Applying Lemma \ref{le:2.1} with $X=\Sigma_{\varepsilon,\sigma}$, $Y=\Omega_{\delta}$, $Z=\Omega$ and $h_1=\phi_{\varepsilon}$, $h_2=\Pi \circ \beta$, we obtain $\mathop{\rm cat}_{\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma}}(\Sigma_{\varepsilon, \sigma})\geq \mathop{\rm cat}_{\Omega_{\delta}}(\Omega)$. The proof is complete. \end{proof} \subsection*{Acknowledgments} The authors would like to thank the anonymous referee for reading carefully the paper and for giving us valuable comments. This work was supported by grants N10961016 and 10631030 from the NNSF of China. \begin{thebibliography}{00} \bibitem{abc} A. Ambrosetti, M. Badiale and S. Cingolani; Semiclassical states of nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equations, \emph{Arch. Rational Mech. Anal.}, 140(1997), 285-300. \bibitem{ams} A. Ambrosetti, A. Malchiodi, S. Secchi; Multiplicity results for some nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equations with potentials, \emph{Arch. Rational Mech. Anal.}, 159(2001), 253-271. \bibitem{bbm} V. Benci, C. Bonanno, A. M. 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