Global existence of solutions for a weakly coupled system of semilinear damped wave equations (Q2355426)

The Cauchy problem for a weakly coupled system of semilinear damped wave equations is investigated. The space dimension is denoted by \(N\). The critical exponent and the weak solution of the Cauchy problem are defined first. Under special assumptions on the exponents in the nonlinear part of the system and if the critical exponent is smaller than \(N/2\) -- supercritical condition --, then for any dimension \(N\) and small initial data the existence of a unique global weak solution together with some estimates of the weighted energy for solutions are proved. If the exponents fulfill some additional conditions, the estimates are improved and one proves that the computed decay rates are almost optimal. If the critical exponent is greater or equal than \(N/2\) -- subcritical case -- and if the exponents in the nonlinear part of the system and the initial data satisfy some special conditions, an almost optimal estimate for the lifetime of the solution is proved.