Stability of fronts for a KPP-system, II: The critical case (Q1268417)

This work is concerned with the parabolic system \[ \frac {\partial\mathbf u}{\partial \tau} -\frac {\partial^2\mathbf u}{\partial\eta^2}+\mathbf b(\lambda)\mathbf u =\mathbf f(\lambda,\mathbf u) \] on \(\mathbb R\times (0,\infty)\), where \(\lambda\) is a small parameter. The vector function \(\mathbf u\) can be written as \((u_0,\mathbf u_1)\) with \(\mathbf u_1\) an \(n\)-dimensional vector, the matrix \(\mathbf b\) is diagonal with \[ b_{00}(\lambda)=-\lambda+\lambda^2a_0(\lambda), \;b_{jj}(\lambda) = \alpha_j +\lambda a_j(\lambda) \] (\(j=1,\dots,n\)) with \(a_0\) a nonnegative function and \(\alpha_j\) positive constants, and \(\mathbf f\) satisfies the conditions \[ f_0(\lambda,\mathbf u) =-u_0 +\text{ higher order terms}, | f_j| \leq \text{ constant}| \mathbf u| ^2 \] for \(\lambda\) and \(\mathbf u\) small. (The precise conditions are more complicated than we can describe here.) The authors study fronts (also called travelling waves) for this system and their behavior when \(\lambda\) is small. These fronts are determined by their speed \(\gamma\), which satisfies \(| \gamma| \geq 2\). When \(| \gamma| >2\), the analysis is somewhat simpler than the critical case \(\gamma=-2\), which is studied here. In this case, the fronts are asymptotically stable under suitable hypotheses, such as perturbations which have compact support at time zero. The authors also show that the solutions decay like a (negative) power of \(\tau\) as \(\tau\to\infty\), unlike the usual exponential decay for solutions of the heat equation. An interesting feature of their proofs is the use of estimates similar to those developed by Nash and Moser for the study of weak solutions of single equations.