Blow-up solutions to a finite difference analogue of \(u_ t = \Delta{}u + u^{1+\alpha{}}\) in \(N\)-dimensional balls (Q1207179)

The author considers asymptotic behaviour of difference solutions for a semilinear parabolic equation \[ u_ t= \Delta u+ u^{1+\alpha},\;(t,x)\in (0,T)\times \Omega\tag{1} \] with the boundary condition \((1- \sigma)u+ \sigma(\partial u/\partial n)=0\) for \((t,x)\in (0,T)\times \partial\Omega\) and initial value \(u(0,x)= u_ 0(x)\), \(x\in\overline\Omega\) which is radially symmetric. Here \(u_ 0\in C^ 1(\overline\Omega)\), \(\Omega=\{x; | x|< R\}\), \(0<R<+\infty\) is a ball in \(\mathbb{R}^ N\) and \(n\) is the outward normal of \(\partial\Omega\) while \(\sigma\in[0,1]\) and \(\alpha>0\) are fixed constants. It is proved e.g. that if the initial value is radially decreasing and the difference solution for (1) blows up then the solution blows up in a sharp shape. If \(0<\alpha\leq 1\) then the solution also blows up at the points adjacent to the maximum point which is the central point of \(\Omega\); while if \(\alpha>1\) then there is only a single point for the solution to blow up and if \(\alpha=1\) then the solution just blows up at the maximum point and the points around it, but remains bounded at all of the rest points. The analysis of error estimates for the difference approximation is given as well as several illustrations of numerical experiments.