A sixth-order thin film equation in two space dimensions (Q2344310)

The author studies the existence of global weak solutions to the initial-boundary value problem \[ \partial_t u = \mathrm{div}\left[ |u|^n \nabla \left( k \Delta^2 u + |u|^{p-1} u \right) \right]\;, \qquad (x,t)\in\Omega\times (0,\infty)\;, \] supplemented with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions \[ \partial_n u = \partial_n \Delta u =\partial_n \Delta^2 u = 0\;, \qquad (x,t)\in\partial\Omega \times (0,\infty)\;, \] and initial condition \(u(0)=u_0\in H^2(\Omega)\). Here, \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain of \(\mathbb{R}^2\) with smooth boundary, \(k>0\), \(n>0\), and \(p>2\), so that the above equation is a sixth-order degenerate parabolic equation featuring an additional second-order degenerate diffusion. As its fourth-order counterpart, where \(\Delta^2 u\) is replaced by \(\Delta u\) and which has been extensively studied in recent years, two Liapunov functionals \[ \int_\Omega \left( \frac{k}{2} |\Delta u|^2 + \frac{|u|^{p+1}}{p+1} \right)\;dx \;\;\text{ and }\;\; \int_\Omega G(u)\;dx \;\;\text{ with }\;\; G''(r) = r^{-n} \] are available and provide valuable information to investigate the global existence of solutions for initial data in \(H^2(\Omega)\) and the positivity properties of solutions starting from positive or nonnegative initial data. The existence proof is performed by a compactness approach while the nonnegativity results are obtained by adapting the approach used in the fourth-order case.