No label defined (Q4253589)

The author studies the asymptotic behaviour of the solutions of the Cauchy problem for the Kirchhoff equations \[ u_{tt} - \left(1 + \left (\int_{\mathbb{R}^n} | \nabla u(x,t)| ^2 dx\right)^\gamma \right) \Delta u + u_t = 0, \tag{1} \] \[ x \in \mathbb{R}^n, \;t \geq 0, \] \[ u(x,0) = u_0 (x),\quad u_t (x,0) = u_1 (x), \quad x \in \mathbb{R}^n, \tag{2} \] \(\gamma \geq 1\) is a constant. It is proved that for suitably small initial data, there exists a unique global solution of (1), (2) in the class \[ \bigcap_{j=0}^2 C^j (\mathbb{R}_{+}; H^{2-j} (\mathbb{R}^n)) \cap L^{\infty} (\mathbb{R}_{+}; H^{2-j} (\mathbb{R}^n)). \] The author first obtains decay estimates for the solutions of (1),(2) using the energy method in the \(L^2\)-frame, which are later improved using Fourier transform arguments in the \(L^2 \cap L^1\)-frame in addition to the energy method. Finally, the author proves the estimate \(\| \nabla u(t) - \nabla v(t) \| \leq C(1+t)^{-1/2}\), where \(v\) is a solution of a homogeneous heat equation.