Uniform bounds for solutions to quasilinear parabolic equations. (Q5958947)

The authors consider a class of quasilinear parabolic equations on a domain \(D \subset \mathbb{R}^d\) of finite Lebesgue measure in the form \[ u_t(t,x) = \text{div\,} a(t,x,u(t,x), \nabla u(t,x)); \quad t \in (0,\infty),\;x \in D. \] where \(a : (0,\infty)\times D \times \mathbb{R} \times \mathbb{R}^d \to \mathbb{R}^d\) is a Carathéodory function satisfying the conditions \[ a(t,x,u,\xi).\xi \geq C_1 | \xi| ^p,\qquad | a(t,x,u,\xi)| \leq C_2 | \xi| ^{p-1}, \] almost everywhere for positive constants \(C_1\), \(C_2\), \(d \geq 3\), \(2 \leq p \leq d\). This class admits (among others) the \(p\)-Laplacian as a corresponding elliptic operator. One of the main results of the paper is the global uniform ultracontractive bound \[ \| u(t)\| _{\infty}\leq C \frac{| D| ^{\alpha}}{t^{\beta}}\| u(0)\| ^{\gamma}_{q_0} \] valid for a suitable choice of \(\alpha, \beta, \gamma, q_0\). Moreover, contractivity of the corresponding evolutionary process, i.e. the inequality \[ \| u(t,.)\| _q \leq \| u(0,.)\| _q \] for any \(t > 0, q \in [2, \infty)\) is proved. The fundamental step in the proof is a study of a function \[ y(s)= \log (\| u(s,.)\| _{r(s)}). \] For a chosen function \(r(s)\) it is differentiable and satisfies a differential inequality, whose integration gives the required result. In deducing the differential inequality the authors use a new type of energy-entropy inequality similar to Gross logarithmic Sobolev inequalities.