Global existence for Laplace reaction-diffusion equations (Q2182791)

The authors consider a nonlinear version of the heat-conductivity equation in three dimensions, with a spatially inhomogeneous heat-conductivity coefficient: \[ \frac{\partial u}{\partial t} = \frac{\alpha}{m(x)}\Delta u +f(u), \] where \(u(x,t)\) is a real single-component variable, the function \(f(u)\), subject to certain conditions, represents the nonlinearity, \(x\) is the set of three-dimensional coordinates, \(m(x)\) is a positive non-vanishing coefficient, and \(\alpha\) is a positive constant. In this equation, \(\alpha/m(x)\) plays the role of a spatially inhomogeneous heat conductivity. The equation is solved with an input, \(u(x,t=0)=u_0(x)\), where \(u_0(x)\) is a non-negative function of the coordinates. The equation has to be solved in a confined three-dimensional domain, with zero (Dirichlet) boundary condition for \(u(x)\). The equation has \[L(u)=\int dx[\frac{\alpha}{2}(\nabla u)^2 + m(x)F(u)] \] as Lyapunov's functional. Here \(F(u)\) is such that \(dF/du=-f(u)\). The value of the Lyapunov's functional evolves according to \[ \frac{dL(u(x,t))}{dt}=-\int dx\frac{1}{m(x)}\left(\frac{\delta L}{\delta u}\right)^2<0. \] The main task of the paper is a rigorous proof of the existence of the global solution of the heat-conductivity equation with the above-mentioned initial and boundary conditions. To this end, the local existence is proven first, and then it is extended to the global setting.