Time asymptotic behavior of the solution to a Cauchy problem governed by a transport operator (Q2583048)

The paper is devoted to the analysis of well-posedness and large time behaviour of the kinetic-type equation describing the evolution of the density of a cell population depending on the degree of maturity and the maturation velocity, introduced by \textit{M.~Rotenberg} [J.\ Theoret.\ Biol.\ 103, No.~2, 181--199 (1983)]. Unlike in previous works, here the maturation velocity is assumed to be bounded. Boundary conditions are of the Lebowitz and Rubinow type. The transition (integral) operator in the equation is assumed to be of regular type [cf.\ \textit{M.~Mokhtar--Kharroubi}, ``Mathematical topics in neutron transport theory: new aspects'' (Series on Advances in Mathematics for Applied Sciences 46, World Scientific, Singapore) (1997; Zbl 0997.82047), Chapter 4]; such operators can be approximated by operators with degenerate kernels. Using the fact that the equation is similar to the transport equation in slab geometry, the authors use the standard strategy to find the large-time behaviour (precisely, the essential type) of the associated semigroup. They start by finding an explicit expression (in terms of the series similar to that appearing in the multiple collision method) for the semigroup generated by the streaming operator subject to Lebowitz--Rubinow boundary conditions. The terms of the series are calculated explicitly. Since the transition operator is bounded, the existence of the perturbed semigroup solving the full equation is immediate. The analysis is then carried out by using the Weis method, which consists in showing strict singularity of alternating products of the perturbing operator with the unperturbed semigroup evaluated at finite sequences of arbitrary times. Under the additional assumption that the transition operator is compact (in \(L_p\), \(p>1\)) or weakly compact (in \(L_1\)), the authors show that the assumptions of the Weis method are satisfied for the problem at hand. This implies equality of the essential spectral types for the perturbed and unperturbed semigroups.