Liapunov functionals for Smoluchowski's coagulation equation and convergence to self-similarity (Q814800)

The paper is devoted to the study of the equation \[ \partial_{t}f(t,y)=\frac{1}{2} \int^{y}_{0}f(t,y-y^{\prime})f(t,y^{\prime})dy^{\prime}- \int^{\infty}_{0}f(t,y)f(t,y^{\prime})dy^{\prime},\tag{1} \] for \((t,y)\in (0,+\infty)\times {\mathbb R}_{+}\). Setting \[ f(t,y):=\frac{1}{(1+t)^2}g\left(\log (1+t),\frac{y}{t+1}\right), \quad g_{\rho}(y):=\frac{4}{y}\exp\left(-\frac{2y}{\rho}\right), \] where \(\varrho\) means the first moment of the initial datum \(f(0)\), the authors proves the following convergence result: for any \(\psi \in L^{\infty}({\mathbb R}_+)\) \[ \lim_{t\to +\infty}\int^{\infty}_{0}g(t,y)\psi(y)\,dy= \int^{\infty}_{0}g_{\rho}(y)\psi(y) \,dy. \] The proof of this result is based on the construction of Lyapunov functionals for equation (1) written in self-similar variables. Equation (1) belongs to the so-called Smoluchowski's coagulation equation with constant kernel, which gives a mean-field model for the dynamics of a system of particles growing by successive merges. See in this connection the papers by \textit{P. G. J. van Dongen} and \textit{M. H. Ernst} [J. Stat. Phys. 50, No. 1--2, 295--329 (1988; Zbl 0998.65139)], by \textit{D. J. Aldos} [Bernoulli 5, No. 1, 3--48 (1999; Zbl 0930.60096)] and by \textit{G. Menon} and \textit{R. L. Pego} [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 57, No. 9, 1197--1232 (2004; Zbl 1049.35048)].