Traveling wave front and stability as planar wave of reaction diffusion equations with nonlocal delays (Q2393635)

The paper studies the existence, asymptotics and stability of traveling fronts of the delay reaction diffusion equation \[ \partial_t u =\Delta u +f(u,g\ast u), \quad x\in \mathbb{R}^n, t>0 \] with \(n\geq 2\) and \[ (g\ast u)(x,t) = \int_{-\infty}^t\int_{\mathbb R^n} \frac{1}{\tau}e^{-\frac{t-s}{\tau}}(4\pi(t-s))^{-n/2}e^{-\frac{|x|^2}{4(t-s)}}u(x',s)dx'ds. \] Two kinds of the nonlinearity \(f\) are considered, namely the so-called bistable and mono-stable cases. The authors consider ``planar'' fronts of the form \(u(x,t)=\phi(x_n+ct)\) with \(\lim_{\xi\to-\infty}\phi(\xi)= 0\) and \(\lim_{\xi\to\infty}\phi(\xi)= 1\). Using the transformation \(v:=g\ast u\), the problem is recast as a system of two equations without delay with only one equation being nonlinear. In Section 2, the authors consider bistable nonlinearities. For the existence, in Section 2.2, the authors use a theorem from \textit{A. I. Vol'pert} et al. [Traveling wave solutions of parabolic systems. Translations of Mathematical Monographs. 140. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (1994; Zbl 1001.35060)] for quite general reaction diffusion systems, which is based on a condition on zeros of the nonlinearity and on the eigenvalues of the Jacobian at these zeros. In Section 2.3, the asymptotics of the front for \(|x_n|\to \infty\) are determined by a simple linearization of the problem at the limit states. The major part of the paper is devoted to the asymptotic stability of the planar fronts \(\phi(x_n+ct)\). Under perturbations decaying as \(|x|\to \infty\), the fronts are shown to be asymptotically stable. For \((x_1,\dots,x_{n-1})\)-dependent perturbations in the argument of \(\phi\), the convergence rate in the asymptotic stability is even provided. The main tools of proof are sub- and super-solutions and the comparison principle. Many approaches are similar to those in [\textit{G. Lü} and \textit{M. Wang}, Sci. China, Math. 54, No. 7, 1403--1419 (2011; Zbl 1242.35041)]. The mono-stable case is studied in Section 3. The existence of fronts was proved previously by the same authors. A similar asymptotic stability result as in the bistable case holds except for the condition that the perturbed inital data lie within \([0,1]\) (component-wise). The full proof is omitted but the sub- and super-solutions are given.