Waiting time effect for motion by positive second derivatives and applications (Q405616)

The paper presents a detailed study on the motion of a function driven by the positive part of its second derivative. The simplest example is as follows. Let \(u(x,t)\) be a function on \(\mathbb{R}\times (0,\infty)\) satisfying: \[ u_t-(u_{xx})_{+}=0 \;\;\text{in}\;\mathbb{R}\times (0,\infty), \] \[ u(x,0)=u_0(x) \;\;\text{in}\;\mathbb{R}, \] where \(a_{+}\) denotes \(\max\{a,0\}\) for any \(a \in \mathbb{R}\). If the initial graph of \(u_{0}(x)\) is composed of convex and concave parts, then the so--called wating time effect appears -- the convex part of the curve moves immediately while the non-convex part stays at the initial position for a while before starting to evolve. For a general one--dimensional problem the wating time effect is investigated. By using comparison arguments it is shown that for any smooth periodic function which contains finitely many convex pieces in one period the wating time is continuous. Additionaly, the answer to an open question posed by \textit{R. Kohn} and \textit{S. Serfaty} [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 59, No. 3, 344--407 (2006; Zbl 1206.53072)] is given. The results on the wating time effect are further applied to the stationary problem of mean curvature type on an unbounded domain that has some game--theoretic interpretation.