Semilinear parabolic problems in thin domains with a highly oscillatory boundary (Q549949)

The authors describe the asymptotic behaviour of the solution \( w^\varepsilon\) of the semilinear parabolic equation \(w_t^\varepsilon-\Delta w^\varepsilon+w^\varepsilon= f(w^\varepsilon)\) posed in \((0,+\infty )\times R^\varepsilon\), where \(R^\varepsilon\) is the thin 2D domain \((0,1)\times (0,\varepsilon g(x/\varepsilon ))\), where \(g\) is a \(C^1\) and \(L\)-periodic function satisfying \(0<g_0\leq g(x)\leq g_1\). Here \(f\) is a \(C^2\) function with bounded derivatives and satisfying \(\limsup_{|s|\rightarrow \infty}f(s)/s<0\). Homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions are added on \(\partial R^\varepsilon\). In order to work in the more fixed domain \(\Omega^\varepsilon=(0,1)\times (0,g(x_1/\varepsilon))\), the authors perform the change of variables \( x_1=x\), \(x_2=y/\varepsilon \). They first study the steady associated and extended problem \[ -\frac{\partial^2u^\varepsilon}{\partial x_1^2}- \frac{1}{\varepsilon ^2}\frac{\partial ^2u^{\varepsilon }}{\partial x_2^2}+V^\varepsilon u^\varepsilon= f^\varepsilon, \] where \( V^\varepsilon\in L^\infty(\Omega^\varepsilon)\), \(V^\varepsilon\geq 1\) and there exists \(V_0\in L^\infty(\Omega )\) independent of \( x_2\) such that \(\int_{\Omega^\varepsilon }|V^\varepsilon-V_0|^p\,dx\rightarrow 0\), for some \(p>1\) and where \(\Omega =(0,1)\times (0,g_1)\). The main result of the paper proves that \( (P^\varepsilon u^\varepsilon)_\varepsilon\) converges in the weak topology of \(H^1(\Omega )\) to the unique solution \(u_0=u_0(x_1)\) of the problem \(-q_0(u_0)_{xx}+V_0u_0=f_0\) in \((0,1)\) with the boundary conditions \(u_0'(0)=u_{0}'1=0\). Here \(f_0\) is the limit in some sense of \((f^\varepsilon)_\varepsilon\) and \( P^\varepsilon\) is a linear extension operator from \(\Omega^\varepsilon\) to \(\Omega\). For the proof of this convergence result, the authors use the solution of an auxiliary problem and the properties of the extension operator \(P^\varepsilon\). In order to study the asymptotic behaviour of the solution of the parabolic problem, the authors then introduce an appropriate notion of convergence for functions and for operators. They deduce the convergence of the semigroup associated to the steady problem. The paper ends with the proof of a rate of convergence for the semigroups and with that of an upper semicontinuity property of the attractors. They also prove a lower semicontinuity property of these attractors assuming an hyperbolicity property of the solution of the limit problem.