Stochastic homogenization for reaction-diffusion equations (Q1732573)

This paper deals with the long-time behavior of solutions to heterogeneous reaction-diffusion equations in random media. The authors consider equations of the form (i) $u_{t}=\Delta u+f(x,u,\omega)$ on $(0,\infty)\times \mathbb{R}^{d}$, with initial condition $u(0,\cdot)$ or $u(0,\cdot,\omega)$, where $\omega$ is an element of some probability space $(\Omega,\mathcal{F},P)$, which models the random environment via nonlinear random reaction function $f(\cdot,\cdot,\omega)$. Also it is considered the more general partial differential equations of the form (ii) $u_{t}=F(D^2 u,\nabla u,u,x,\omega)$ on $(0,\infty)\times \mathbb{R}^{d}$. This includes, for instance, some viscous Hamilton-Jacobi equations with possibly non-convex or non-coercitive Hamiltonians, or the porous medium equation. For the first type of equations the authors show that under suitable hypotheses, initially localized solutions to considered equation asymptotically become approximate characteristic functions of a ballistically expanding Wulff shape. The proper definition of relevant front speeds is given. The new relation between the front speeds and the Wulff shape is found, provided the Wulff shape does not have corners. The authors prove that front speeds exists in all directions, and obtain general stochastic homogenization results, showing that large space-time evolution of solutions to the considered equation is governed by a simple deterministic Hamilton-Jacobi equation whose Hamiltonian is given by these front speeds. These results are extended to the more general equations of the form (ii).