Chmaj, Adam J. J.Ren, Xiaofeng2020-07-072020-07-072002-01-02Chmaj, A. J. J., & Ren, X. (2002). The nonlocal bistable equation: Stationary solutions on a bounded interval. <i>Electronic Journal of Differential Equations, 2002</i>(02), pp. 1-12.1072-6691https://hdl.handle.net/10877/11980We discuss instability and existence issues for the nonlocal bistable equation. This model arises as the Euler-Lagrange equation of a nonlocal, van der Waals type functional. Taking the viewpoint of the calculus of variations, we prove that for a class of nonlocalities this functional does not admit nonconstant C1 local minimizers. By taking variations along non-smooth paths, we give examples of nonlocalities for which the functional does not admit local minimizers having a finite number of discontinuities. We also construct monotone solutions and give a criterion for nonexistence of nonconstant solutions.Text12 pages1 file (.pdf)enAttribution 4.0 InternationalLocal minimizersMonotone solutionsArticle