\(L^ 1\) stability of solutions to certain linear parabolic equations in divergence form (Q1076229)

The asymptotic behaviour as \(t\to \infty\) is considered for the solution of the Cauchy problem \[ \partial u/\partial t-\partial /\partial x(b(x)u+a(x)\partial u/\partial x)=0,\quad u(x,0)=u_ 0(x) \] \((a(x)>0\), \(a(x)\in C^ 2({\mathbb{R}})\), \(b(x)\in C^ 1({\mathbb{R}}))\). It is proved, with reasonable assumptions on a(x) and b(x), that \(\| u(x,t)-u_ s(x)\|_ 1\to 0\) as \(t\to \infty\), where \(u_ s(x)\) is the stationary solution \(u_ s(x)=c \exp (-\int^{x}_{0}(b(s)/a(s))ds),\) with constant c determined by the relation \[ \int_{{\mathbb{R}}}u_ 0(x)dx=c\int_{{\mathbb{R}}}\exp (-\int^{x}_{0}(b(s)/a(s))ds)dx. \] The method of proof is an adaptation of the Osher-Ralson stability theorem for quasilinear conservation laws to the considered linear problem.