Reaction-diffusion equations appear in biology and chemistry, and combine linear diffusion with different kind of reaction terms. Some of them, are remarkable from the mathematical point of view, since they possess families of travelling waves that describe the asymptotic behaviour of a larger class of solutions 0 < u(x,t) < 1 of the problem posed in the real line. We investigate here the existence of waves with constant propagation speed, when the linear diffusion is replaced by the ``slow'' doubly nonlinear diffusion. In the present setting we consider bistable and monostable reaction terms, which present interesting deviances from the Fisher-KPP framework recently studied in \cite{AA-JLV:art}. For both type of reactions, we find different families of travelling waves that are employed to describe the wave propagation of more general solutions and to study the stability/instability of the steady states, even when we extend the study to several space dimensions. A similar study is performed in the critical case that we call ``pseudo-linear'', i.e., when the operator is still nonlinear but has homogeneity one. With respect to the classical model and the ``pseudo-linear'' case, the travelling waves of the ``slow'' diffusion setting exhibit free boundaries.

Bistable and monostable reaction equations with doubly nonlinear diffusion

Alessandro Audrito
2017-01-01

Abstract

Reaction-diffusion equations appear in biology and chemistry, and combine linear diffusion with different kind of reaction terms. Some of them, are remarkable from the mathematical point of view, since they possess families of travelling waves that describe the asymptotic behaviour of a larger class of solutions 0 < u(x,t) < 1 of the problem posed in the real line. We investigate here the existence of waves with constant propagation speed, when the linear diffusion is replaced by the ``slow'' doubly nonlinear diffusion. In the present setting we consider bistable and monostable reaction terms, which present interesting deviances from the Fisher-KPP framework recently studied in \cite{AA-JLV:art}. For both type of reactions, we find different families of travelling waves that are employed to describe the wave propagation of more general solutions and to study the stability/instability of the steady states, even when we extend the study to several space dimensions. A similar study is performed in the critical case that we call ``pseudo-linear'', i.e., when the operator is still nonlinear but has homogeneity one. With respect to the classical model and the ``pseudo-linear'' case, the travelling waves of the ``slow'' diffusion setting exhibit free boundaries.
2017
Monostable and Bistable equations, Doubly nonlinear diffusion, Propagation of level sets.
Audrito, Alessandro
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
DNLREACTIONS2.pdf

Accesso aperto

Descrizione: Articolo
Tipo di file: PREPRINT (PRIMA BOZZA)
Dimensione 2.52 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
2.52 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1651946
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact