A unified approach to the structure of radial solutions for semilinear elliptic problems - Dedicated to the memory of Professor Masaya Yamaguti

Radial solutions of semilinear elliptic problems satisfy some boundary valu e problems for second order differential equations. It is shown that the bo undary value problems can be reduced to a canonical form after suitable cha nge of variables. Through the canonical form, we can study the properties o f radial solutions of semilinear elliptic equations in a systematic way, an d make clear unknown structure of various equations. We also clarify the im plication of the Kelvin transformation and the Rellich-Pohozaev identity, a nd give their generalized forms.