We consider a nonlinear periodic problem driven by a nonlinear nonhomogeneous differential operator and a Carathéodory reaction term $f(t,x)$ that exhibits a $(p-1)$-superlinear growth in $x \in \mathbb{R}$ near $\pm\infty$ and near zero. A special case of the differential operator is the scalar $p$-Laplacian. Using a combination of variational methods based on the critical point theory with Morse theory (critical groups), we show that the problem has three nontrivial solutions, two of which have constant sign (one positive, the other negative).

In this paper we investigate the existence of positive solutions for nonlinear elliptic problems driven by the $p$-Laplacian with a nonsmooth potential (hemivariational inequality). Under asymptotic conditions that make the Euler functional indefinite and incorporate in our framework the asymptotically linear problems, using a variational approach based on nonsmooth critical point theory, we obtain positive smooth solutions. Our analysis also leads naturally to multiplicity results.