A nonlinear parabolic problem in an exterior domain (Q1268561)

The author considers the parabolic differential equation \(u_t -\Delta u +u^p=0\) in the exterior of a bounded domain with finitely many components, each having a smooth boundary. Zero Dirichlet data is prescribed along with an initial function \(u_0\) such that \[ \lim_{| x| \to\infty} \frac {u^0(x)}{A| x| ^{-\alpha}} = 1 \] for some positive constants \(A\) and \(\alpha\). It is easy to show that this problem has a unique solution, which exists for all time, for any \(p>1\). The author's interest is in the behavior of this solution. The details of his investigation are rather technical, but brief outlines can be given here. For sufficiently large time, there is an exterior region of the form \(| x| \geq g(t)\) for some increasing function \(g\) such that \[ \lim_{| x| \to\infty} \frac {u(x,t)}{A| x| ^{-\alpha}} = 1 \] uniformly on bounded \(t\)-intervals. There is also an interior region of the form \(| x| \leq h(t)\) for some increasing function \(h\) such that \(u(x,t)\) is essentially the product of a normalized harmonic function which vanishes on the boundary of the original domain and an explicitly given function of time. In between these two regions lies one or possibly two regions in which the behavior is described in a similar but more complicated fashion. One important element about the author's analysis is that the regions described above are given explicitly in terms of the parameters \(A\), \(\alpha\), \(p\), and \(n\) (the number of space dimensions), and the details of the behavior depend on the comparison between the numbers \(\alpha\), \(2/(p-1)\), and \(n\). In addition, the situation is different depending on whether \(n=2\) or \(n>2\). The results are first derived formally and then analytically.