The reactive-telegraph equation and a related kinetic model (Q1693405)

The reactive-telegraph equation \({\tau}{\rho}_{tt}\)+(1-\(\tau\)(1-2\(\rho\)))\({\rho}_t\)=\({\Delta}{\rho}\)+\({\rho}(1-{\rho})\) has been proposed in [\textit{S. Fedotov}, ``Wave front for a reaction-diffusion system and relativistic Hamilton-Jacobi dynamics'', Phys. Rev. E (3) 59, 5040--5044 (1999)], as a model for population dynamics in more than one dimension. The solution \(\rho\) represents the population density. In one dimension equation reduces to a first order system of partial differential equations, the kinetic system. As a first result one proves that for \(n=1\) the equation preserves positivity, while in higher dimensions solutions need not remain to be positive. Further one deals with a generalization \[ p_t+a_{n,{\tau}}v\cdot Dp = (1/{\tau}) (\rho-p)+\rho(1-{\rho})_{+} \] of the kinetic system, where \(D\) is the spatial gradient, \(p\) is the density of individuals moving with velocity \(v\), and \(\rho\) is the population density. One considers a hyperbolic scaling, the rescaled functions \(p^{\epsilon}(x,v,t)\) and \({\rho}^{\epsilon}\) and one investigates their propagation properties as \({\epsilon}{\to} 0\). A characterization of the speed of propagation is provided, it is explicitly computed in one and two dimensions. One proves that a phase transition, depending on \(\tau\), between parabolic and hyperbolic behavior is possible only in one dimension.