Blow-up of solutions of critical elliptic equation in three dimensions

We describe the asymptotic behavior of positive solutions $u_epsilon$ of the equation $-Delta u + au = 3,u^{5-epsilon}$ in $Omegasubsetmathbb{R}^3$ with a homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition. The function $a$ is assumed to be critical in the sense of Hebey and Vaugon and the functions $u_epsilon$ are assumed to be an optimizing sequence for the Sobolev inequality. Under a natural nondegeneracy assumption we derive the exact rate of the blow-up and the location of the concentration point, thereby proving a conjecture of Brezis and Peletier (1989). Similar results are also obtained for solutions of the equation $-Delta u + (a+epsilon V) u = 3,u^5$ in $Omega$.