Front propagation for reaction-diffusion equations of bistable type (Q1803492)

The authors are concerned with a single reaction diffusion equation with a bistable nonlinear term, \[ {\partial u\over\partial t}=\varepsilon\Delta u+{1\over\varepsilon}f(u)\quad\text{ in }\mathbb{R}^ N\times(0,\infty). \tag{1} \] The typical example of \(f\) is \(f(u)=2(u- \mu)(1-u^ 2)\) \((-1<\mu<1)\). Owing to the small parameter \(\varepsilon>0\), besides the initial value \(u(0,x)=u_ 0(x)\), the solution \(u^ \varepsilon(t,x)\) quickly takes values very close to \(-1\) or \(+1\) except for a very thin region, which is like a hypersurface and called an interface. The time dependent motion of such interface has been a main interest and this paper gives a detailed analysis on its behavior. The authors prove that this interface moves in its normal direction like a travelling wave with constant speed determined only by the equation. The theory of viscosity solutions is used very extensively. The result also gives information on the behavior of the solution around the interface.