Traveling wave fronts for generalized Fisher equations with spatio-temporal delays (Q859519)

The paper is concerned with the existence of traveling wave solutions \(U_\varepsilon(z)=u_\varepsilon(x-ct)\) to the general reaction-diffusion equation: \[ ({\mathcal E}_\varepsilon)\qquad\frac{\partial u}{\partial t}= \frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial^2 t}+F((g_1\ast\varphi_1(u,\varepsilon))(t,x),\cdots (g_m\ast\varphi_m(u,\varepsilon))(t,x),\varepsilon), \] where \(\varepsilon\) is a small vector parameter. The functions \(F\) and \(\varphi_i\) \((1\leq i\leq m)\) are twice continuously differentiable vector functions and \(\ast\) refers to the convolution of the kernel \(g_i\) with \(\varphi_i\). Equation \((\mathcal{E}_\varepsilon)\) may be considered as a perturbation of the generalized Fisher equation: \[ ({\mathcal E}_0)\qquad\frac{\partial u}{\partial t}=\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial^2 t}+F(\varphi_1(u,0),\dots\varphi_m(u,0),0), \] which is known to possess a front solution \(U_0(z)\) for values \(c\) larger than a minimal wave speed \(c_0\) in case the nonlinearity \(f(u)=F(\varphi_1(u,0),\dots\varphi_m(u,0),0)\) is assumed to be monostable, that is \[ f>0\;\text{on }\;(0,1),\quad f(0)=f(1)=0,\quad f'(0)>0,\quad f'(0)<1. \] For \(c\geq c_0\) and \(\varepsilon\) small enough, the author first proves that the properties of solutions of equation \(({\mathcal E}_0)\) are preserved for equation \(({\mathcal E}_\varepsilon)\) (persistence of wave fronts) and that \(\lim s_{\varepsilon\to0}U_{\varepsilon}=U_{0}.\) As for the Fisher equation, a continuum of solutions, the existence of a minimal wave speed and uniqueness of the wave front, up to translation of the origin, are then proved for specific kernels in the equation: \[ \frac{\partial u}{\partial t}=\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial^2 t}+F(u(t,x),(g\ast\varphi(u,\varepsilon))(t,x),\varepsilon). \] In this case, the nonlocal equation reduces to a system of singularly perturbed ODEs and singular perturbation theory as well as phase plane analysis are applied. The proofs of the main two theorems are based on several technical lemmas; the paper provides a nice and rigorous contribution to this subject.