Travelling wave solutions of the degenerate KolmogorovPetrovskiPiskunov equation (Q4471083)

The authors study the asymptotic behaviour of solutions of the initial value problem for a degenerate parabolic equation \[ {\partial u\over\partial t}={\partial^2\over \partial x^2} \varphi(u)+ \psi(u) \] in \(\{(x,t)\mid x\in\mathbb{R},\;0\leq t<+\infty\}\) with the initial condition \(u(x,0)= u_0(x)\). The authors study also stability. Specifically, they show that, as in the linear diffusion case, the slowest travelling-wave in the family yields the asymptotic rate of the propagation of disturbances from the unstable rest state in these systems. Moreover, they give conditions on the reaction term and diffusion coefficient ensuring the existence of interfaces.