Global existence of solutions to an \(n\)-dimensional parabolic-parabolic system for chemotaxis with logistic-type growth and superlinear production (Q1704393)

In the paper under review, the authors study global existence issues for solutions to the following \(n\)-dimensional parabolic-parabolic system for chemotaxis with logistic-type growth \[ \begin{cases} \frac{\partial u}{\partial t}=\Delta u-\chi\nabla\cdot(u\nabla v)+f(u) & \text{ in }\;\Omega\times(0,\infty),\\ \tau \frac{\partial v}{\partial t}=\Delta v-v+g(u) & \text{ in }\;\Omega\times(0,\infty),\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial\nu}=\frac{\partial v}{\partial\nu}=0 & \text{ on }\;\partial\Omega\times(0,\infty),\\ u(x,0)=u_0(x),\;v(x,0)=v_0(x) & \text{ in }\;\Omega. \end{cases} \] Here, \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^n\) is a bounded domain with smooth boundary, the unknown functions \(u(x, t)\) and \(v(x, t)\) are the population density of bacteria and the concentration of a chemical substance at the position \(x\) and time \(t\), and the term \(-\nabla\cdot(u\nabla v)\) expresses the advection of bacteria due to chemotaxis. The positive constants \(\chi\) and \(\tau\) correspond to the chemotactic intensity and to the time scale of reaction and diffusion of \(v\), respectively. The function \(f\) represents the proliferation and the reduction in numbers due to death of bacteria and it is supposed to be such that \(f(0)\geq0\) and \(f(u)=u-\mu u^\alpha\), \(\alpha>1\), for large enough \(u\geq0\), while \(g\) corresponds to the secretion of chemical substance \(v\) by bacteria and is taken as \(g(u)=u(1+u)^{\beta-1}\) for \(u\geq0\) with \(\beta\in (0,2]\). Assuming that \(\beta\leq \alpha/2\) and \(\beta<(n+2)(\alpha-1)/(2n)\), and taken any exponent \(p\in \big(\max \big\{2,n,(\alpha-2)n\big\},\infty\big)\), the authors prove existence of a unique global \(L_p\)-solution of the above system for each pair of nonnegative initial data \((u_0,v_0)\in L_p(\Omega)\times H^1_p(\Omega)\). The proof relies on suitable a priori energy estimates obtained by combining semigroup and energy methods.