Radial symmetry of self-similar solutions for semilinear heat equations (Q1570753)

The authors consider the symmetry properties of positive solutions of the equation \[ \Delta u+\tfrac 12 x\cdot \nabla u+{{1}\over {p-1}} u+u^p=0\quad x\in{\mathbb{R}}^n, \] where \(n\geq 2\) and \( p>(n+2)/n.\) They prove that \(u\) must by radially symmetric about the origin provided \(u(x)=o(|x|^{-2/(p-1)})\) as \(|x|\to \infty,\) and that there exist non-radial solutions \(u\) that satisfy \(\lim\sup_{|x|\to\infty} |x|^{2/(p-1)} u(x)>0.\)