On the Dirichlet problem for the nonlinear diffusion equation in non-smooth domains (Q5945098)

The initial-boundary value problem for the porous medium or fast-diffusion equation \(u_t=\Delta u^m\) \((0< m)\) is considered in the noncylindrical bounded domain \(\Omega\in \mathbb{R}^{N+ 1}\). The initial data and Dirichlet data on the lateral boundary are given as non-negative continuous functions. The parabolic boundary \(\Gamma\) of \(\Omega\) is assumed to be continuous but not necessarily smooth. It is also assumed that \(\Gamma\) should have a sort of uniform lower semicouninuity at each point \((x_0, t_0)\in \Gamma\) and that \(\Gamma\) can be approximated by smooth manifolds \(\Gamma_n\) from above, i.e., the inside \(\Omega_n\) of \(\Gamma_n\) always contain \(\Omega\). Under these assumptions, the nonnegative continuous (up to the boundary) weak solution is contructed as the limit of approximate positive classical solutions of the equation in \(\Omega_n\), with suitably approximated data on the parabolic boundary \(\Gamma_n\). The continuity of solution up to the parabolic boundary is derived by applying the comparison theorem between the approximate solutions and some carefully chose barrier functions, whose choice are closely related to the condition on the uniform lower semicontinuity of \(\Gamma\).