Nonlinearly determined wavefronts of the Nicholson's diffusive equation: when small delays are not harmless (Q2297253)

The paper deals with the diffusive version of the Nicholson's blowflies delay differential equation \[ \partial_t u(t,x)=\partial_{xx}u(t,x)-u(t,x)+pu(t-\tau,x)e^{-u(t-\tau,x)},\,\,\,x\in\mathbb{R}.\tag{1} \] By using the singular perturbation theory developed by Faria et al., the authors show that Equation (1) can have wave fronts \(u(t,x)=\phi(x+ct)\), \(\phi(-\infty)=0\), \(\phi(+\infty)=\ln p\), which are neither monotone nor oscillating, and they are not linearly determined, even the delay is arbitrary small. They also prove that the profile \(\phi(t)\) is eventually monotone at \(+\infty\) if and only if the corresponding characteristic function at the equilibrium \(u=\ln p\) has at least one negative zero. Some numerical simulations for a new type of non-monotone waves of (1) which confirm the stability properties are finally presented.