Superconvexity of the evolution operator and parabolic eigenvalue problems on \(\mathbb{R}^ n\) (Q1314624)

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the stability of the zero solution of the equation \[ \partial_ tu - k(t) \Delta u = \lambda m(x,t)u \quad \text{in} \quad \mathbb{R}^ N \times (0, \infty) \tag{1} \] as the parameter \(\lambda\) varies over \(\mathbb{R}^ +\). Here we assume that the diffusion coefficient \(k : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) is a smooth and strictly positive \(T\)-periodic function \((T > 0\) a fixed number) and the weight function \(m : \mathbb{R}^ N \times \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\) is smooth and \(T\)- periodic in the second argument. Furthermore, we assume that \(m\) changes sign and that \(m(x,t) \leq - c < 0\) for all \((x,t) \in \mathbb{R}^ N \times \mathbb{R}\) with \(| x | \geq R_ 0\) holds with some suitable constants \(c\), \(R_ 0 > 0\). Stability is understood as stability with respect to the \(L_ \infty\)-norm and initial values in \(C_ 0 (\mathbb{R}^ N)\), the space of continuous functions vanishing at infinity. More precisely, we interpret (1) as an abstract evolution equation in the Banach space \((C_ 0 (\mathbb{R}^ N), \| \cdot \|_ \infty)\).