Front propagation into unstable states: Universal algebraic convergence towards uniformly translating pulled fronts (Q5940283)

The authors analyze the convergence of asymptotically uniformly traveling pulled fronts toward their asymptotic speed \(V^*\). It is shown that when such fronts evolve from ``sufficiently steep'' initial conditions (initial decay faster than \(e^{-\lambda^*x}\) for \(x\to\infty)\), then they have a universal relaxation behaviour as \(t\to\infty\), i.e., the velocity of the pulled front relaxes algebraically like \[ V(t)=V^* -{3\over 2\lambda^*t} +{3\over 2} \sqrt nD\lambda^*/ (D\lambda^{*2}t)^{3/2} +O(1/t^2). \]