The effect of spatial variables on the basic reproduction ratio for a reaction-diffusion epidemic model (Q2671185)

This paper studies the effect of spatial variables on the basic reproduction ratio for a reaction-diffusion epidemic model. Let \(\Omega\) be an open bounded domain in \(n\)-dimensional space with a smooth boundary. Let \(d(x)>0\), \(f(x)\ge0\), \(v(x)>0\) be continuous functions over \(\bar{\Omega}\) with \(f\) and \(v\) not equal to zero. The reaction-diffusion weighted eigenvalue problems is given by \(-\nabla(d(x)\nabla\phi)+v\phi=\mu^{-1}f\phi\) for \(x\) in \(\Omega\) and \(\partial \phi/\partial \nu=0\) over the boundary. The paper analyzes the relationship between its principal eigenvalue and the spatial variables. The influence of the spatial dimension on the principal eigenvalue has been investigated. The basis reproduction number is derived. It is computed numerically in a two-dimensional rectangular domain.