Bifurcation for a free boundary problem modeling the growth of tumors with a drug induced nonlinear proliferation rate (Q2407140)

The authors study a free boundary problem which models the growth of tumors under the action of drugs: find \((\sigma, D, p, \Omega)\) such that \[ \Delta \sigma = \lambda_1 \sigma +\mu D-\lambda_3 \text{ in }\Omega, \] \[ \Delta D = \lambda_2 D-\lambda _4 \text{ in }\Omega, \] \[ \Delta p =-\sigma(1-D)+\nu \text{ in }\Omega, \] \[ \sigma =\bar\sigma,\;D =\bar D \text{ on } \partial\Omega, \] \[ p =\kappa,\;\frac{\partial p}{\partial \mathbf n} =0 \text{ on } \partial\Omega, \] where \(\lambda_i\), \(i=1,2,3,4\), \(\mu\), \(\nu\), \(\bar\sigma\) and \(\bar D\) are given constants, \(\Omega\) denotes the tumor domain in \(\mathbb{R}^3\), \(\kappa\) is the scalar mean curvature of \(\partial\Omega\), \(\mathbf n\) is the unit outward normal on \(\partial\Omega\). The unknown \(\sigma\) is the nutrient concentration, \(D\) is the drug concentration and \(p\) is the tumor pressure. The right hand side of the equation of \(p\) models the proliferation/death rate in the tumor region \(\Omega\), which depends on the nutrient \(\sigma\) and the drug \(D\) in a nonlinear manner. The authors obtain the existence of the radially symmetric solutions to the free boundary problem, and provide conditions to guarantee its uniqueness (in the same class). Furthermore, they show that there are infinitely many branches of symmetry-breaking solutions which bifurcate from the radially symmetric solutions.