Type II blow-up mechanisms in a semilinear heat equation with critical Joseph-Lundgren exponent (Q1800368)

The very interesting paper under review studies the blow-up mechanisms for the semilinear heat equation \[ \begin{cases} u_t = \Delta u + |u|^{p-1}u,\quad & x \in \mathbb{R}^N,\;t>0,\\ u(x,0)=u_0(x),\quad & x\in \mathbb{R}^N \end{cases} \] with a given exponent \(p>1\) and a bounded initial data \(u_0.\) A blow-up of type \textbf{II} appears at the time \(T\) if \[ \limsup_{t\nearrow T}(T-t)^{1/(p-1)}\|u(\cdot,t)\|_{L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^N)}=+\infty, \] and it is known by the result of [\textit{M. A. Herrero} and \textit{J. J. L. Velázquez}, C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 319, No. 2, 141--145 (1994; Zbl 0806.35005)] that type \textbf{II} blow-up does occur if \(N \geq 11\) and \(p > p_{\text{JL}},\) where \[ p_{\text{JL}} = \begin{cases} + \infty, & \text{if}\;N \leq 10, \\ 1 + \frac{4}{N-4-2 \sqrt{N-1}}, & \text{if}\;N \geq 11 \end{cases} \] is the Joseph--Lundgren exponent. If \(p < p_{\text{JL}}\) instead, type \textbf{II} blow-up cannot occur for nonnegative radially symmetric solutions under mild assumptions on the initial data. The question whether or not type \textbf{II} blow-up occurs for the borderline case \(p = p_{\text{JL}}, N \geq 11,\) remained open for a long time. In the article under review, the authors gives an answer to that question by proving constructively the existence of type \textbf{II} blow-up solutions for the Joseph-Lundgren critical case.