Nonlinear Sturm global attractors: unstable manifold decompositions as regular CW-complexes (Q476601)

The paper deals with the global attractors \({\mathcal A}_f\) (named Sturm global attractors) of the scalar parabolic equations \[ u_t=u_{xx}+f(x,u,u_x)\leqno(1) \] on the unit interval \(0<x<1\) with Neumann boundary conditions \(u_x(0)=u_x(1)=0\). Under the assumption that all equilibria of \((1)\), \(v_1,\ldots,v_N\), are hyperbolic (i.e., without eigenvalues zero of their linearizations), the authors show that \({\mathcal A}_f=\bigcup_{j=1}^N W^u(v_j)\) is a regular dynamic complex, that is, this decomposition of \({\mathcal A}_f\) is a finite regular \(CW\)-complex with open cells given by the unstable manifolds \(W^u(v_j)\) of the equilibria \(v_j\). This theorem is based on a previous Schoenflies result of the authors [``Schoenflies spheres as boundaries of bounded unstable manifolds in gradient Sturm systems'', J. Dyn. Differ. Equations (2013; \url{doi:10.1007/s10884-013-9311-8})]. Then, they prove that a regular finite \(CW\)-complex \({\mathcal C}\) is a planar Sturm complex \({\mathcal C}={\mathcal C}_f\) if and only if \({\mathcal C}\) is planar, contractible, and the \(1\)-skeleton \({\mathcal C}^1\) of \({\mathcal C}\) possesses a bipolar orientation. A characterisation of the Sturm complex \({\mathcal C}={\mathcal C}_f\) of a \(3\)-dimensional Sturm global attractor \({\mathcal A}_f=\overline{W}^u(v_*)\) with only hyperbolic equilibria and with Morse index \(i(v_*)=3\) is also presented.