Finite time blow-up of parabolic systems with nonlocal terms (Q2926588)

In the interesting paper under review the authors study blow-up phenomena for a class of parabolic systems with nonlocal terms, called shadow systems, which are often used to approximate reaction-diffusion systems when one of the diffusion rates is large. More presicely, the problem considered is NEWLINE\[NEWLINE \begin{cases} u_t=d_1\Delta u -u +\frac{u^p}{\xi^q} & \text{in }\Omega\times(0,T),\\ \tau \xi_t=-\xi +\frac{1}{|\Omega|}\int_\Omega \frac{u^r}{\xi^s}\;dx & \text{in }(0,T),\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial \nu}=0 & \text{on }\partial\Omega\times(0,T),\\ u(x,0)=u_0(x)\geq 0 & \text{in }\Omega,\\ \xi(0)=\xi_0>0 & \text{in }\Omega. \end{cases} NEWLINE\]NEWLINE Here, \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^n\) is a bounded and smooth domain with outward normal \(\nu\) to \(\partial\Omega\), \(d_1\) and \(\tau\) are positive constants, and the exponents \(p\), \(q\), \(r>0\) and \(s\geq 0\) satisfy NEWLINE\[NEWLINE0<\frac{p-1}{r}<\frac{q}{s+1}.NEWLINE\]NEWLINE The authors characterize the existence of finite time blowing-up solutions in terms of the parameters in the shadow systems. Two different approaches are employed to overcome the difficulties caused by the appearance of nonlocal terms and the lack of comparison principles. One is based on integral estimates, while the other relies on the Schauder fixed-point principle. The paper continues the work in [J. Differ. Equations 247, No. 6, 1762--1776 (2009; Zbl 1203.35049)] by improving the earlier results concerning blow-up solutions to the optimal case.