The principal eigenvalue of a space-time periodic parabolic operator (Q731394)

The author considers a parabolic operator in the form \[ {\mathcal L}\varphi(t,x)\equiv \partial_t\varphi (t,x) -\nabla_x\cdot (A (t,x)\nabla_x\varphi(t,x))+ q(t,x)\cdot\nabla_x\varphi (t,x) -\mu(t,x)\varphi(t,x) \] where the coefficient functions \(A(t,x)\), \(q(t,x)\), \(\mu(t,x)\) are periodic both in \(t\in\mathbb R\) with period \(T\) and in \(x\in\mathbb R^N\). Then the author considers the generalized principal eigenvalue \(\lambda_1\) of \({\mathcal L}\) defined as the supremum of the set of \(\lambda\in\mathbb R\) such that there exists \(\varphi\in C^{1,2}(\mathbb R\times\mathbb R^N)\) with \(\varphi>0\), \(\varphi\) being \(T\)-periodic in \(t\), \({\mathcal L}\varphi\geq\lambda\varphi\) in \(\mathbb R\times\mathbb R^N\) and shows that if \(\{\Omega_n\}_{n\in\mathbb N}\) is an increasing sequence of nonempty bounded open subsets of \(\mathbb R^N\) such that \(\bigcup_{n\in\mathbb N}\Omega_{n}=\mathbb R^{N}\), then \(\lambda_{1}=\lim_{n}\lambda_{1}(\Omega_n)\). Here \( \lambda_1(\Omega_n)\) equals the supremum of \(\lambda\in\mathbb R\) such that there exists \(\varphi\in C^{1,2}(\mathbb R\times\Omega_n)\cap C^{1,1}(\mathbb R\times\overline{\Omega}_n)\), \(\varphi>0\) and \({\mathcal L}\varphi\geq\lambda\varphi\) in \(\mathbb R\times\Omega_n\). The author also shows that the supremum which defines \(\lambda_1\) is actually a maximum. Then the author proves other results such as a characterization of \(\lambda_1\) and a result on the dependence of the defined eigenvalues upon the coefficients.