Travelling waves of auto-catalytic chemical reaction of general order-an elliptic approach (Q1016456)

Estimates on the minimal speed \(v_{\min}\) of the travelling wave solutions of a parabolic system of PDE are given. Let \(a\) denote the density of a reactant \(A\) and \(b\) be the density of a chemical substance \(B\) called auto-catalyst. The equations in the considered model are of the form \[ a_t=a_{xx}-af(b), \qquad b_t=Db_{xx}+af(b). \] Here, \(D\) denotes the ratio of the diffusion coefficient of the auto-catalyst \(B\) and of the reactant \(A\). There are two main cases for the function \(f\) that are considered in the paper. The first one is when \(f(b)=b^n\) corresponding to the isothermal auto-catalytic reaction \(A+nB\to (n+1)B\) with rate \(ab^n,\) \(n\geq 1\). More generally, if the rate of the reaction is \(kab^n,\) then the corresponding system of equations can be reduced to the case \(k=1\) by scaling the time and space variables. The quadratic \((n=1)\) and cubic order \((n=2)\) reactions are studied in \textit{J. Billingam} and \textit{D. J. Needham} [Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., Ser. A 334, No. 1633, 1--24 (1991; Zbl 0739.35033)], \textit{Xinfu Chen} and \textit{Y. W. Qi} [SIAM J. Math. Anal. 39, No. 2, 437--448 (2007; Zbl 1360.34065)] and others. The present paper treats the more general cases \(n\geq1,\) when \(D\geq1\), and \(1<n<2\) when \(D<1\). The travelling wave solutions \(a(t,x)=\alpha(x-vt),\) \(b(t,x)=\beta(x-vt)\) imply a system of ODEs for \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\). Then it is reduced to a system of two first order singular non-autonomous ODEs by introducing \(u:=1-\beta\) as an independent variable. This is allowed due to the fact that \(\beta_z'<0\), i.e., the map \(z\mapsto u(z)\) has an inverse. Sharp estimates based on the comparison principle are proved for the minimal speed of the travelling wave solutions as well as the uniqueness of such solutions up to translation when \(D>1\) and \(n\geq1.\) They imply that the minimal speed is of order \(\sqrt{D}\). Two bounds for the speed are derived when \(D<1\) and \(1<n<2\). It is shown that there is no travelling wave solution below the first one and that there is a unique such solution (up to translation) for speeds above the second bound. Both bounds are of order \(D\). Another closely related case with \(f(b)=b^m+kb^n\) is considered. It corresponds to an auto-catalytic reaction involving both \(A+nB\to (n+1)B\) and \(A+mB\to (m+1)B\), where \(k>0\) measures the relative strength of the \(n\)th order to the \(m\)th order reaction. The problem when \(n=1\) and \(m=2\) was previously studied in \textit{S. Focant} and \textit{Th. Gallay} [Phys. D 120, No. 3--4, 346--368 (1998; Zbl 0936.35088)]. Analogously to the previous case, it is shown that a minimal speed exists when \(D\geq1,\) \(n>m\geq1\) and estimates for it are presented. Bounds on the speed related to the existence and nonexistence of travelling wave solutions are presented for the case \(D<1\).