Shape-invariant bounds for reaction-diffusion systems with unequal diffusion coefficients (Q1111766)

Estimates by invariant regions or shape-invariant bounds are a very useful tool in the study of reaction-diffusion systems of the form \[ \partial u/\partial t-D\Delta u+f(x,u)=0\quad ((x,t)\in \Omega \times (0,\infty)) \] (with appropriate initial and boundary conditions). Here, D is a diagonal matrix with positive diagonal elements \(d_ 1,...,d_ n.\) However, the class of the regions available for such estimates is severely restricted if the diffusion coefficients \(d_ i\) are not equal. Thus, many systems cannot be treated by these methods. In the present article, we generalize the estimates by shape-invariant bounds with arbitrary smooth-bounded regions to the case of unequal diffusion coefficients. The efficiency of our method increases as the quotient of the largest and the smallest diffusion coefficient approaches 1. The bounds are used to prove existence and stability results.