On the extinction problem for a \(p\)-Laplacian equation with a nonlinear gradient source (Q2669047)

Let \(\Omega\) be a bounded domain of \(\mathbb{R}^N\), \(N\ge 1\), with smooth boundary and consider the initial-boundary value problem \[ \partial_t u = \mathrm{div}\left( |\nabla u|^{p-2} \nabla u \right) + \mu u^l |\nabla u|^q, \qquad (x,t)\in \Omega\times (0,\infty), \] supplemented with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions and non-negative initial condition \(u_0\in L^\infty(\Omega)\cap W_0^{1,p}(\Omega)\), where \(p\in (1,2)\), \(\mu>0\), \(l>0\), and \(q>0\). Finite time extinction is known to take place when reaction is turned off (\(\mu=0\)) and is shown to persist when \(0<l\le q < p/(p+2)\) and, either \(p-1<q+l\) and \(u_0\) is suitably small, or \(p-1=q+l\) and \(\mu\) is suitably small. In contrast, when \(p-1\ge q+l\) and \(\mu\) is large enough, solutions do not vanish identically at a finite time. The extinction proof relies on energy estimates while the construction of appropriate subsolutions prevents the vanishing in finite time.