Branches of non-symmetric critical points and symmetry breaking in nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations

In this paper we study the bifurcation of branches of non-symmetric solutions from the symmetric branch of solutions to the Euler-Lagrange equations satisfied by optimal functions in functional inequalities of Caffarelli-Kohn-Nirenberg type. We establish the asymptotic behavior of the branches for large values of the bifurcation parameter. We also perform an expansion in a neighborhood of the first bifurcation point on the branch of symmetric solutions, that characterizes the local behavior of the non-symmetric branch. These results are compatible with earlier numerical and theoretical observations. Further numerical results allow us to distinguish two global scenarios. This sheds a new light on the symmetry breaking phenomenon.