Collapsing heat waves (Q2467139)

In the present study the authors develop some general results for the initial-boundary value problem with Neumann conditions for the reaction-diffusion equation \[ \begin{aligned} u_t= Du_{xx}+ f(u),&\quad x\in I= [0,1],\;t> 0,\\ u_x(0,t)= u_x(1, t)= 0,&\quad t> 0,\\ u(x, 0)= \varphi(x),&\quad x\in I,\;\varphi\in C(\overline I), \end{aligned} \] where \(D> 0\) is a diffusion coefficient and \(f\) is a given function. The authors then apply their results to a combustion model to determine the existence of initial profiles, such any initial condition \(\varphi(x)\) strictly below them will collapse to the ambient temperature while initial conditions not strictly below may develop into travelling combustion waves.