Existence of self-similar solutions to Smoluchowski's coagulation equation (Q2577429)

The authors consider the continuous version of the Smoluchowski coagulation equation describing time evolution of the density function \(c(t,x)\) of particles of mass \(x\) which grow due to successive mergers. An important issue is to find a pattern for large time behaviour of solutions to such equations. It has been conjectured by physicists that for homogeneous coagulation kernels the solution should approach a self-similar profile for large masses and large times. Precisely, the so-called dynamical scaling hypothesis states that \[ c(t,x)\sim c_S(t,x):= \frac{1}{s(t)^2}\psi\left(\frac{x}{s(t)}\right)\tag{1} \] after a sufficiently large time, where \(s(t)\) is the particle mean mass and \(\psi\) is the profile which determines the finite mass of the ensemble: \[ \int_0^{\infty}xc_S(x,t)dx = \int_0^{\infty}x\psi(x)dx, \quad t>0. \] This conjecture is supported by computational evidence but rigorous results seem to exist only for constant and additive coagulation kernels. In this paper the authors consider a class of homogeneous coagulation kernels which include several types considered in the literature. Inserting the self-similar solution (1) into the coagulation equation they obtain a nonlinear integro-differential equation for the profile \(\psi\). The main theorem of the paper states that there exists a (suitably defined) weak solution to this equation which, moreover, is strictly positive. As a consequence, the existence of a self-similar weak solution to the original coagulation equation follows.