Existence and nonexistence of global solutions of higher-order parabolic problems with slow decay initial data (Q1874627)

In this paper the authors consider questions of global existence of solutions to the Cauchy problem \[ \partial_t + (-\Delta)^m u = |u|^p, \quad \quad x \in {\mathbb R}^N, \quad t>0, \tag{1} \] equipped with initial data \(u(x,0)=u_0(x)\) on \({\mathbb R}^N\). The goal of the paper is to prove global existence and global non-existence results for \(m>1\) (in which case (1) gives at least a fourth-order parabolic equation) and polynomially decaying at infinity positive initial data \(u_0(x)\). The main tool used in the analysis are the majorizing kernels introduced by \textit{V. A. Galaktionov} and \textit{S. I. Pokhozhaev} [Indiana Univ. Math. J. 51, 1321-1338 (2002; Zbl 1082.35079)], which are then studied using ideas of \textit{Q. S. Zhang} [Commun. Partial Differ. Equ. 22, 1529-1557 (1997; Zbl 0883.35061)]. The main global existence result is Theorem 2.1: Assume that \(p>1+2m/N\) and that the initial data \(u_0 \in L^1({\mathbb R}^N)\cap L^\infty({\mathbb R}^N)\) satisfies \[ 0 \leq u_0(x) \leq {C \over 1+ |x|^\beta } \quad \text{with} \quad \beta > { 2m \over p-1 }. \] Then there is \(K>0\), such that if \(|u_0|_\infty < K\), (1) has a global solution. The main non-existence results are contained in Theorems 3.1 and 3.2. We quote Theorem 3.2: Assume that \(m>1\), \(p>1\) and that \(u_0\in L^1_{\text{loc}}({\mathbb R} ^N)\) and is of the form \(u_0(x)=\lambda/(1+|x|^\alpha)\), where \(\lambda > 0\) and \(\alpha=2m/(p-1)\). Then there is \(\lambda^* >0\), such that if (1) has a weak solution, necessarily \(\lambda < \lambda^*\).