Countable branching of similarity solutions of higher-order porous medium type equations (Q1028499)

The author extends a set of self-similar solutions of the fourth-order porous medium equation \[ u_t = - (|u|^nu)_{xxxx}\quad \text{in }\mathbb R\times\mathbb R_+ \quad (n > 0), \] wherein first four similarity solutions corresponding to initial data given by derivatives of Dirac's delta-function, \(\delta(x)\), \(\delta'(x)\), \(\delta''(x)\) and \(\delta'''(x)\), were obtained by Bernis and McLeod. A countable set of self-similar solutions obtained in the paper under review is of the form \[ u_l(x,t) = t^{-\alpha_l}f_l(y),\quad y = x/t^{\beta_l},\quad \beta_l = \frac{1 - \alpha_ln}{2},\quad l = 0,1,2,\dots , \] where \(\alpha_l\) and \(f_l(y)\) are eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the nonlinear eigenvalue problem \[ {\mathbf B}_n(f) \equiv -(|f|^nf)^{(4)} + \frac{1-\alpha n}{4}yf' + \alpha f = 0 \quad \text{in }\mathbb R,\quad f \neq 0,\;f\in C_0(\mathbb R). \] First, the author explains the method presented of the construction of self-similar solutions using the classical second-order porous medium equation \[ u_t = \Delta(|u|^nu) \quad \text{in }\mathbb R^N\times\mathbb R_+, \] which can be considered as a nonlinear extension of the heat equation. In the sense of convergence of wide classes of solutions, these equations can be continuously deformed to each other with respect to the parameter \(n\). This enables us to construct a continuous \(n\)-branch of eigenfunctions (depending on \(n\)) of the corresponding nonlinear eigenvalues problem. In order to identify the above-mentioned eigenfunctions \(\{f_l\}\), at first their appearance in checked at the branching point \(n=0\) from the eigenfunctions \(\{\psi_l\}\) of the non self-adjoint differential operator \[ {\mathbf B}_0 = - D^4_y + \frac{1}{4}yD_y + \frac{1}{4}I \] with the point spectrum \(\sigma({\mathbf B}_0)= \{\lambda_l = - \frac{l}{4}\), \(l \geq 0\}\), where \(I\) is the identic operator. These eigenfunctions give the solutions \[ u_l(x,t) = t^{-\frac{N}{4} + \lambda_l}\psi_l(y), \quad y = x/t^{1/4},\quad l = 0,1,2,\dots , \] of the linear bi-harmonic equation. Next, the result is extended to the equation under consideration. Finally, the similar classification is performed for the sixth-order porous medium equation.