Stationary spacial patterns for a reaction-diffusion system with an excitable steady state (Q1079731)

The author studies an extension of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model for nerve condution. It includes a diffusion term for the recovery variable v. The stationary problem in an \(n\geq 2\) dimensional space is investigated: \[ \Delta u+f(u)-v=0;\quad D\Delta v+\epsilon (u-\gamma v)=0 \] with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. Standing waves corresponding to nontrivial solutions of these equations are sought. Using variational methods it is proved that for a sufficiently large domain \(\Omega\), \(\gamma\) small, and D large (precise bounds are given in the paper) such a solution exists which corresponds to the minimum of an energy function. Using the mountain pass theorem between this solution and the trivial one it is shown that there exists another nontrivial solution associated with a saddle point of the energy.