Stability of local minima and stable nonconstant equilibria (Q1305484)

The authors consider the following equation in a Banach space: \[ u_t=Au+F(u),\tag{1} \] where \(A\) is a linear operator, and \(F\) is a nonlinear term. It is assumed that this equation defines a local semidynamical system. Moreover, there is a Lyapunov functional that is a continuous function of \(t\) that decreases strictly except at equilibria. Under these and additional conditions it is proved that equation (1) has a stable equilibrium. Applications to the diffusion, reaction diffusion and strongly damped wave equations with nonlinear boundary conditions are discussed. Besides, the existence of stable nonconstant equilibria is proved.