Uniqueness/nonuniqueness for nonnegative solutions of second-order parabolic equations of the form \(u_{t}=Lu+Vu-\gamma u^{p}\) in \(\mathbb R^{n}\). (Q1405014)

The authors consider nonnegative solutions of the Cauchy problem \(u_t=Lu+Vu-\gamma u^p\) in \(\mathbb R^n\times(0,\infty)\), \(u(\cdot,0)=f\) in \(\mathbb R^n\), where the coefficients of the second-order linear elliptic operator \(L\) and the functions \(V,\gamma\) are Hölder continuous, \(f\) is continuous, \(\gamma>0\) and \(p>1\). They prove the existence of a minimal and a maximal solution and derive sufficient conditions for uniqueness and nonuniqueness. Uniqueness is guaranteed provided the coefficients of the operator \(L\) satisfy some growth conditions, \(V\) is bounded above and \(\gamma\) is bounded away from zero. Nonuniqueness is shown provided the ratio \(V/\gamma\) is positive, bounded away from zero and nonuniqueness holds for the corresponding linear problem (with \(V=0\) and \(\gamma=0\)) in the class of (possibly sign-changing) classical solutions which are bounded on bounded time intervals. The authors also develop a connection between uniqueness for the semilinear parabolic problem and uniqueness for the corresponding elliptic equation and apply their results to two specific classes of problems.