Generalized quasilinearization method for reaction-diffusion equations under nonlinear and nonlocal flux conditions (Q1849149)

This paper deals with weak solutions of the following semilinear parabolic initial-boundary value problem (IBVP) \[ \begin{aligned}{\partial u\over\partial t}+ Au(x,t)= f(x,t,u(x, t))\quad & \text{in }Q,\\ u(x, 0)= \psi(x)\quad & \text{in }\Omega,\\ {\partial u(x,t)\over\partial r}+ h(x, t)u(x,t)= \int_\Omega k(x,t,x', u(x',t)) dx'\quad & \text{on }\Gamma,\end{aligned} \] where \[ Au(x,t)= \sum^N_{i,j=1} {\partial\over\partial x_i} \Biggl(a_{ij}(x, t){\partial u\over\partial x_j}\Biggr)\text{ and }Q= \Omega\times (0,T),\;\Gamma= \partial\Omega\times (0,T). \] The aim is to establish a generalized quasilinearization method for the nonlinear and nonlocal problem when the nonlinear \(f\) and the nonlinear kernel \(k\) admit a decomposition in the form \[ f(x, t,u)= f^{(1)}(x,t,u)+ f^{(2)}(x,t,u), \] \[ k(x,t, x',u)= k^{(1)}(x,t, x',u)+ k^{(2)}(x, t,x',u) \] for \(u\in [u,\overline u]\) formed by upper and lower solutions, where \(f^{(1)}\), \(k^{(1)}\) are convex and \(f^{(2)}\), \(k^{(2)}\) are concave functions with respect to \(u\). Combining the method of quasilinearization with the well-known method of upper and lower solutions together with a monotone iterative technique, it is possible to benefit from both these methods. This unification, known as generalized quasilinearization method, provides an efficient tool to construct concurrently upper and lower boundary sequences that converge monotonically and quadratically to the solution of the problem under consideration. The method provides an efficient iteration technique that produces not only improved approximations due to monotonicity of itrerates, but yields also a measure of convergence rate.