Positive solutions of reaction diffusion equations with superlinear absorption: universal bounds, uniqueness for the Cauchy problem, boundedness of stationary solutions (Q2576906)

It is considered the classical solution \(u \in C^2 (\mathbb R^n \;\times \;(0, \infty)) \cap C(\mathbb R^n \;\times \;[0,\infty))\) to the parabolic problem \[ u_t= Lu+f(x,u), \quad (x,t) \in \mathbb R^n \times (0,\infty), \] \[ u(x,0)= g(x) \geq 0, \quad x \in \mathbb R^n, \] where \[ L=\sum_{i,j=1}^{n} a_{i,j}(x) \frac{\partial^2}{\partial x_i \partial x_j}+\sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{i}(x) \frac{\partial}{\partial x_i} \] is a linear nondegenerate elliptic operator, \(g \in C(\mathbb R^n)\) and the reaction term \(f\) converges to \(-\infty\) at a superlinear rate as \(u \to \infty\). The first result in this paper is a parabolic Osserman-Keller type estimate. It is given a sharp minimal growth condition on \(f\), independent of \(L\), in order that there exists a universal, a priori upper bound for all solutions to the above Cauchy problem -- that is, in order that there exists a finite function \(M(x,t)\) on \(\mathbb R^n \times (0,\infty)\) such that \(u(x,t) \leq M(x,t),\) for all solutions to the Cauchy problem. Assuming that \(f(x,0)=0,\) so that \(u \equiv 0\) is a solutions to the Cauchy problem, that under a similar growth condition, an intimate relationship exists between two seemingly disparate phenomena -- namely, uniqueness for the Cauchy problem with initial data \(g=0\) and the nonexistence of unbounded, stationary solutions to the corresponding elliptic problem are shown. The method of construction of upper solutions is offered. A generic sufficient condition guaranteeing uniqueness for the Cauchy problem is given.