Some remarks on segregation of \(k\) species in strongly competing systems (Q2244864)

Summary: Spatial segregation occurs in population dynamics when \(k\) species interact in a highly competitive way. As a model for the study of this phenomenon, we consider the competition-diffusion system of \(k\) differential equations \[ -\Delta u_i (x)=-\mu u_i (x)\sum_{j\neq i} u_j (x), \quad i=1,\ldots,k \] in a domain \(D\) with appropriate boundary conditions. Any \(u_i\) represents a population density and the parameter \(\mu\) determines the interaction strength between the populations. The purpose of this paper is to study the geometry of the limiting configuration as \(\mu\rightarrow +\infty\) on a planar domain for any number of species. If \(k\) is even we show that some limiting configurations are strictly connected to the solution of a Dirichlet problem for the Laplace equation.