Existence, uniqueness, and stability of generalized traveling waves in time dependent monostable equations (Q2430746)

The paper deals with the time-dependent monostable equation \[ \frac{\partial u}{\partial t} = \sum_{i,j=1}^N a_{ij}(t)\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x_i \partial x_j} + \sum_{i=1}^N a_{i}(t)\frac{\partial u}{\partial x_i} + uf(t,u), \tag{1} \] where \(x \in \mathbb R^N,\) the matrix \((a_{ij})\) satisfies the uniform ellipticity condition, the functions \(a_{ij}(t), a_{i}(t)\) and \(f(t,u)\) are unique ergodic in \(t\). The equation has two spatially homogeneous and time recurrent solutions zero and \(u^*(t)\) with one of them being stable and the other being unstable. An entire solution \(u(t,x)\) of (1) is called a generalized traveling wave solution in the direction of \(\xi\) (connecting \(u^*(t)\) and \(0\)) with average propagating speed \(c\) if there are \(\zeta: \mathbb R\to\mathbb R\) and a wave profile \(\Phi:\mathbb R\times\mathbb R\to\mathbb R^+\) such that \(u(t,x)= \Phi(t, x\cdot \xi - \zeta(t))\), \(\lim_{y \to -\infty}\Phi(t, y)= u^*(t),\) \(\lim_{y \to \infty}\Phi(t, y) = 0\) uniformly in \(t \in\mathbb R\) and \(\lim_{t \to \infty}(\zeta(t+s) - \zeta(s))/t = c\) uniformly in \(s \in\mathbb R\). The author proves the existence of generalized traveling wave solutions in any given direction \(\xi\) with average propagating speed \(c\) such that \(c \geq c^*(\xi)\) and non-existence of such solutions with \(c < c^*(\xi)\), where \(c^*(\xi)\) is the spreading speed in direction \(\xi\). Uniqueness and stability of generalized traveling wave solutions are studied. It is proved that the generalized traveling wave solution is unique ergodic in the sense that its wave profile and wave speed are unique ergodic. If equation (1) is almost periodic in \(t\), then the wave profile and the wave speed are almost periodic.