Positivity for large time of solutions of the heat equation: the parabolic antimaximum principle. (Q1433915)

The authors deal with the positivity, for large time, of the solutions to the heat equation \[ \begin{cases}{\partial u\over\partial t}-\Delta u= a\cdot u+ f(t,x)\quad &\text{in }Q= (0,\infty)\times\Omega,\\ u(t,x)= 0\quad &(t,x)\in (0,\infty)\in \partial\Omega,\\ u(0,x)= u^0(x)\quad &x\in \Omega,\end{cases}\tag{1} \] where \(\Omega\) is a smooth bounded domain in \(\mathbb{R}^d\), and \(a\in\mathbb{R}\). The authors seek sufficient conditions for having a finite time \(t_p> 0\), depending on \(a\) and the data \(u^0\) and \(f\) (which are not necessarily both positive or both negative) such that \(u(t,x)> 0\) for all \(t> t_p\), a.e. \(x\in\Omega\). They are motivated by the so-called ``antimaximum principle''.