Rate of convergence to separable solutions of the fast diffusion equation (Q314383)

The authors study positive solutions for the fast diffusion equation \[ u_\tau = \Delta (u^m) \] with \(x\in\mathbb{R}^n\), \(n>10\) and \(0<m<m_c=\dfrac{(n-2)(n-10)}{(n-2)^2-4n+8\sqrt{n-1}}\). Their focus is on separable solutions, i.e. solutions of the Cauchy problem which extinguish in finite time and which have a certain scaling behaviour. By a change of variables these solutions with extinction at \(\tau=T\) become solutions of \[ (v^p)_t =\Delta v +v^p \] with \(x\in\mathbb{R}^n\) and \(p=\frac{1}{m}\) which exist for \(t\in[0,\infty)\) and converge to a steady state for \(t\to\infty\). It is known that for \(p>\frac{1}{m_c}\) there exists a family of ordered positive radial solutions. The main result of this paper states that solutions to initial conditions which are close to one of these radial solutions will converge to this solution for \(t\to\infty\). The authors also manage to obtain optimal rates of convergence for the separable solutions. The proofs are based on a skillful comparison with different radial solutions.