Nonlinear degenerate parabolic equations with singular lower-order term (Q2501195)

This paper concerns the nonexistence of positive solutions \(u = u(x,t)\) of the problems for the nonlinear parabolic equations with singular potentials \(V = V(x)\): \[ \left\{\begin{aligned} \frac{\partial u}{\partial t} = \Delta\left(u^m\right) + V(x) u^m\quad&\text{ in }\;\Omega \times (0,T), \\ u(x,0) \geq 0\quad&\text{ in }\;\Omega, \\ u = 0\quad&\text{ on }\;\partial\Omega\times (0,T), \end{aligned}\right. \] and \[ \left\{\begin{aligned} \frac{\partial u}{\partial t} = \Delta_p u + V(x) u^{p-1}\quad&\text{ in }\;\Omega \times (0,T), \\ u(x,0) \geq 0\quad&\text{ in }\;\Omega, \\ u = 0\quad&\text{ on }\;\partial\Omega\times (0,T), \end{aligned}\right. \] where \(0 < m < 1,\;1 < p <2,\) \(\Omega \subset \mathbb R^N\) is a bounded smooth domain, \(V \in L^1_{\text{loc}} (\Omega\setminus \mathcal K)\) for some Lebesgue null set \(\mathcal K\) in \(\Omega\), and \(\Delta_p u = \text{ div }(| \nabla u| ^{p-2}\nabla u )\). When \(m=1,\;p=2,\;\mathcal K = \{ 0\},\) and \(V(x) = c/{| x| ^2}\) for a constant \(c\), it was shown in \textit{P. Baras} and \textit{J. A. Goldstein} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 284, 121--139 (1984; Zbl 0556.35063)] that the problem has no nonnegative solution except \(u\equiv 0\) if \(c >C^*(N)=(\frac{N-2}2)^2\), and positive weak solutions exist if \(c \leq C^*(N)\). This result was extended to general positive singular potential \(V(x)\) by \textit{X. Cabré} and \textit{Y. Martel} [C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. I, Math. 329, No.11, 973--978 (1999; Zbl 0940.35105)], where it was discovered that existence and nonexistence of positive solutions is determined by the size of the infimum of the spectrum of the operator \(-\Delta -V\) \[ \inf_{0 \not=\phi \in Q} \frac {\int_\Omega| \nabla\phi| ^2 \,dx - \int_\Omega V| \phi| ^2 \,dx}{\int_\Omega | \phi| ^2 \,dx}, \] where \(Q = C_0^\infty(\Omega)\), if \(N \geq 3\), and \(=C_0^\infty(\Omega\setminus\{0\})\), if \(N = 1,2\). Note that, when \(V(x) = c/{| x| ^2}\), this equals \(-\infty\) or \(0\) according to \(c > C^*(N)\) or \(c \leq C^*(N)\), and \(C^*(N)\) is the best constant in Hardy's inequality for \(N \geq 3\) \[ C^*(N)\int_{\mathbb R^N}\frac {| \phi(x)| ^2}{| x| ^2} \,dx \leq \int_{\mathbb R^N}| \nabla\phi(x)| ^2 \,dx,\quad \phi \in C_0^\infty(\mathbb R^N). \] In the present paper the authors extend the method of X. Cabré and Y. Martel to show that the similar nonexistence results hold for general \(0 < m < 1,\;1 < p <2,\) and \(V \in L^1_{\text{loc}}(\Omega\setminus \mathcal K)\). One of them is that, if \(N \geq 3,\;\frac N{N+2} \leq m < 1\), and \(V(x) \in L^1_{\text{loc}}(\Omega\setminus \mathcal K)\) satisfies \[ \inf_{0 \not=\phi \in C_0^\infty(\Omega\setminus \mathcal K) } \frac {\int_\Omega| \nabla\phi| ^2 \,dx - \int_\Omega (1-\varepsilon) V| \phi| ^2 \,dx}{\int_\Omega | \phi| ^2 \,dx} = -\infty \] for some \(\varepsilon > 0\), then the problem has no positive solution. Also, the authors give some concrete potentials and show that nonexistence of positive solutions is intimately related to Hardy's inequality.