Stability and uniqueness of self-similar profiles in \(L^1\) spaces for perturbations of the constant kernel in Smoluchowski's coagulation equation (Q2021625)

When the coagulation kernel \(K\) is homogeneous with a degree strictly smaller than one, it is expected that solutions to the coagulation equation \begin{align*} \partial_t \phi(t,\xi) & = \frac{1}{2} \int_0^\xi K(\xi-\eta,\eta) \phi(t,\xi-\eta) \phi(t,\eta)\ d\eta \\ & \qquad - \int_0^\infty K(\xi,\eta) \phi(t,\xi) \phi(t,\eta)\ d\eta \end{align*} where \((t,\xi)\in (0,\infty)\times (0,\infty)\), with non-negative initial condition \(\phi_0\in L^1((0,\infty),\xi d\xi)\), behave in a self-similar way as \(t\to\infty\). This conjecture is up to now known to be true for the constant kernel \(K(\xi,\eta)=2\), see [\textit{G. Menon} and \textit{R. L. Pego}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 57, No. 9, 1197--1232 (2004; Zbl 1049.35048)]. An important step in the proof of this conjecture is the uniqueness of finite mass self-similar solutions, and the latter is shown in the paper under review for small perturbations of the constant kernel with homogeneity zero, thereby improving previous results by \textit{B. Niethammer}, the author and \textit{J. J. L. Velázquez} [``A revised proof of uniqueness of self-similar profiles to Smoluchowski's coagulation equation for kernels close to constant'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1510.03361}; J. Stat. Phys. 164, No. 2, 399--409 (2016; Zbl 1356.82034)], along with providing a new approach. More precisely, let \(W\in C((0,\infty)^2)\) be a symmetric function satisfying \[ 0 \le W(x,y) \le \left( \frac{x}{y} \right)^\alpha + \left( \frac{y}{x} \right)^\alpha \text{ and } W(\lambda x,\lambda y) = W(x,y), \qquad (\lambda,\xi,\eta)\in (0,\infty)^3, \] for some \(\alpha\in (0,1)\), and set \(K_\varepsilon = 2 + \varepsilon W\) for \(\varepsilon\ge 0\). Given \(a>-1\), \(b>0\), and \(\delta>0\), it is first shown that, for \(\varepsilon>0\) sufficiently small, any self-similar profile \(u^{(\varepsilon)}\) with unit total mass satisfies \[ \int_0^\infty \left| u^{(\varepsilon)}(x) - e^{-x} \right| (x^a + x^b)\ dx \le \delta. \] We recall that \(u^{(\varepsilon)}\) is a self-similar profile if \((t,\xi) \mapsto (1+t)^{-2} u^{(\varepsilon)}(\xi(1+t)^{-1})\) is a solution to the coagulation equation with kernel \(K_\varepsilon\) and that \((t,\xi)\mapsto (1+t)^{-2} e^{-\xi(1+t)^{-1}}\) is the unique self-similar solution with unit total mass to the coagulation equation with constant kernel \(K_0\). Assuming further that \[ W(x,y)\ge c_* \left( \frac{x}{y} \right)^\alpha + \left( \frac{y}{x} \right)^\alpha, \qquad (x,y)\in (0,\infty)^2, \] for some \(c_*>0\) when \(\alpha\in [1/2,1)\), uniqueness of the self-similar profile with unit total mass is also established, still for \(\varepsilon\) small enough. We also refer to [\textit{J. A. Cañizo} and the author, J. Differ. Equations 270, 285--342 (2021; Zbl 1456.35065)] for attracting properties of these self-similar solutions under similar assumptions.