Min-max variational principle and front speeds in random shear flows (Q2503211)

The authors consider propagation speeds of reaction-diffusion fronts in random shear flows. The model equation is \[ u_t= \Delta_x u+\delta B\cdot\nabla_x u+ f(u), \] where \(x= (x_1,\widetilde x)\in D= \mathbb{R}^1\times\Omega\), \(\Omega= [0,L]^{n-1}\), \(n= 2,3\), \(\delta> 0\) -- a scaling parameter; the vector field \(B= (b(\widetilde x,\omega),0)\), \(b(\widetilde x,\omega)\) is a scalar stationary Gaussian field with zero ensemble mean and almost surely continuous sample paths and \(f\) is a given function. The authors are interested in the asymptotic behaviour of \(c= c(\delta)\), when \(\delta\) is small or large, where \(c\) is the speed of the front. The main results of the authors are that the quadratic speed enhancement law holds with probability arbitrary close to one, under the almost sure continuity \((u=2)\) or mean square Hölder regularity \((u=3)\) conditions of the shear.