Bistable transition fronts in \(\mathbb{R}^N\) (Q904017)

In this paper, the author considers the semilinear parabolic equation \[ u_t=\Delta u+f(u),\;(t,x)\in \mathbb{R}\times \mathbb{R}^N, \tag{1} \] where the nonlinearity \(f\) has two stable zeros, say \(0\) and \(1\) such that \(f'(0)<0\) and \(f'(1)<0\). If one additionally assumes that \[ \exists \;\theta \in (0,1)\text{ such that } f<0 \text{ in }(0,\theta)\text{ and }f>0\text{ in }(\theta,1),\tag{2} \] then it is known that (1) admits standard planar traveling front solutions of the form \(u(t,x)=\phi_f(x.e-c_ft)\) where \(e\) in an arbitrary unit vector in \(\mathbb{R}^N\), for some unique (up to translations) one-dimensional kink profile \(\phi_f\) which decreases from \(1\) to \(0\), and a unique speed \(c_f\in \mathbb{R}\). Moreover, if \(N\geq 2\), a variety of traveling fronts with non-planar level sets, still invariant in a moving frame with constant speed, are known to exist. Here the author is concerned with recently defined notions of transition front solutions for (1), called generalized fronts, which are not necessarily invariant in a moving frame with constant speed. Besides of only one proposition, he does not assume the extra condition (2). Instead, he merely assumes the existence (and then the uniqueness) of a planar front solution of (1) connecting the stable states \(1\) and \(0\) along some direction \(e\). Roughly, generalized front solutions are defined as entire solutions of (1) that converge (spatially) to the stable states \(0\) or \(1\) far away from their moving or stationary level sets, uniformly in time. One can also define a global mean speed for such solutions. In this paper, the author proves the existence and the uniqueness of the global mean speed of any such generalized front. He also establishes some one-dimensional symmetry properties (in analogy to Gibonns' conjecture for the time independent problem) and various classiffcation results related to the shape of the level sets of the fronts. Furthermore, he proves the existence of new type of transition fronts in that are not known standard traveling fronts.