Asymptotic properties of a reaction-diffusion equation with degenerate \(p\)-Laplacian (Q1576550)

The authors study the following reaction-diffusion equation \[ u_t = \lambda(|u_x|^{p-2}u_x)_x + |u|^{q-2}u(1 -|u|^r), \qquad (x,t)\in (0,1)\times (0,+\infty), \] \[ u(0,t) = u(1,t) = 0,\qquad t\in (0,+\infty), \] with initial condition \[ u(x,0) = u_0(x),\qquad x\in (0,1), \] where \(p > 2\), \(q\geq 2\), \(r > 0\) and \(\lambda\) is a positive parameter. They discuss the following: the global existence of solutions; the structure of the set of all stationary solutions; the stability of each stationary solution. The existence and uniqueness of global solutions \(u(\cdot;u_0)\) with \(u(0) = u_0\in L^2\) is proven by applying an abstract result for nonlinear evolution equations. The authors show that the family of solution operators \(\{S(t):u_0\mapsto u(t;u_0)\); \(t\geq 0\}\) has the semigroup property; so that the problem under consideration generates a dynamical system on \(L^2\). In order to investigate the asymptotic behavior of solutions, it is considered the \(\omega\)-limit set \(\omega(u_0)\) associated with \(\{S(t)u_0; t\geq 0\}\). The authors prove that \(\omega(u_0)\subset E_{\lambda}\), where \(E_{\lambda}\) is the set of stationary solutions. The study for \(E_{\lambda}\) is done by the time-map method. The relation between \(p\) and \(q\) makes a remarkable difference on the shape of the time-map and, in consequence, the structure of \(E_{\lambda}\). A rough content of the result is as follows: if \(p > q\), then \(E_{\lambda}\) is an infinite set for any \(\lambda > 0\); if \(p = q\), then \(E_{\lambda}\) is a finite set for large \(\lambda\) and an infinite set for small \(\lambda\) with bifurcations from the trivial solution; if \(p < q\), then \(E_{\lambda}\) is a finite set for large \(\lambda\) and an infinite set for small \(\lambda\) with spontaneous bifurcations. Furthermore, there always exist solutions with flat core for sufficiently small \(\lambda\).