Equilibria with a nontrivial nodal set and the dynamics of parabolic equations on symmetric domains (Q2255110)

Let~\(\Omega\) be a bounded, Steiner symmetric domain in \(\mathbb R^N\), i.e., a domain symmetric with respect to the hyperplane \(x_1 = 0\) and convex in the direction of~\(x_1\). Under some minor regularity assumptions on \(\Omega\), two main results are proved. The first one (Theorem 2.2) deals with bounded, global, non-negative solutions~\(u \in C^{2,1}_{\text{\sevenrm loc}}(\Omega \times (0,+\infty)) \cap C^0(\overline \Omega \times [0,+\infty))\) of the boundary-value problem \[ \begin{cases} u_t = \Delta u + f(x, u, \nabla u) + h(x,t), &(x,t) \in \Omega \times (0, +\infty), \\ u = 0, &(x,t) \in \partial \Omega \times (0, +\infty). \end{cases} \] Note that the initial value \(u(x,0)\) is not prescribed. Apart from some degree of regularity of \(f\) and~\(h\), the function \(f(x,u,p)\) is required to be independent of (\(t\) and)~\(x_1\), and even in \(p_1\), and the norm \(\| h(\cdot,t) \|_{L^\infty(\Omega)}\) must vanish as \(t \to +\infty\). The result is stated by means of the \(\omega\)-limit set of \(u\), which is defined as \[ \omega(u) = \bigcap_{t > 0} \text{cl}_{C^0(\overline \Omega)} \{\, u(\cdot, s) : s \geq t \,\} . \] In other terms, the \(\omega\)-limit of \(u(x,t)\) is the set of all functions \(z(x)\) such that \(u(x,t_k) \to z(x)\) in the supremum norm for some sequence \(t_k \to +\infty\). Theorem 2.2 ensures that each \(z \in \omega(u)\) is symmetric in \(x_1\). Moreover, the following alternative holds: either \(\omega(u) = \{\, z_0 \,\}\) for some~\(z_0\) which fails to be monotone non-increasing in~\(x_1 > 0\) and is also an equilibrium, hence a solution of \[ \begin{cases} \Delta z + f(x, z, \nabla z) = 0, &x \in \Omega, \\ z(x) = 0, &x \in \partial \Omega, \end{cases} \] or each \(z \in \omega(u) \setminus \{\, 0 \,\}\) is strictly decreasing in~\(x_1 >0\). The second main result, Theorem~2.3, deals with bounded, non-negative, entire solutions~\(U\) of \[ \begin{cases} U_t = \Delta U + f(x, U, \nabla U), &(x,t) \in \Omega \times \mathbb R, \\ u = 0, &(x,t) \in \partial \Omega \times \mathbb R, \end{cases} \] i.e., solutions defined for all \(t \in \mathbb R\) (including \(t < 0\)). Under convenient assumptions the theorem asserts as a special case that if \(f(x,0,0) \geq 0\) for all \(x \in \Omega\), then for each \(t \in \mathbb R\) the solution \(U(x,t)\) is monotone non-increasing in \(x_1 > 0\). The result is related to previous papers by \textit{A. V. Babin} [J. Dyn. Differ. Equations 6, No. 4, 639--658 (1994; Zbl 0807.35065)] and by \textit{A. V. Babin} and \textit{G. R. Sell} [J. Differ. Equations 160, No. 1, 1--50, Art. No. jdeq.1999.3654 (2000; Zbl 0945.35017)]. Its proof exploits the moving plane method. The statement is then used to prove Theorem 2.2.