Global existence and asymptotic behavior of classical solutions to a parabolic-elliptic chemotaxis system with logistic source on \(\mathbb{R}^N\) (Q515517)

Global well-posedness and long term behaviour are investigated for the parabolic-elliptic chemotaxis system with logistic source \[ \begin{aligned} \partial_t u & = \mathrm{div}\left( \nabla u - \chi u \nabla v \right) + a u - b u^2, \quad x\in \mathbb{R}^N, \quad t>0, \\ v - \Delta v & = u \;, \quad x\in \mathbb{R}^N, \quad t>0\;, \end{aligned} \] supplemented with a non-negative initial condition \(u(0)=u_0\). Here, \(N\geq 1\), \(\chi>0\), \(a\geq 0\), and \(b>0\). It is by now well-known that the dissipative term \(-bu^2\) stemming from the logistic source may cancel the concentration phenomenon driven by the chemotaxis drift \(-\chi u \nabla v\), thereby preventing finite time blowup if \(b\) is sufficiently large. Several results in that direction are already available for this system when \(\mathbb{R}^N\) is replaced by a bounded domain \(\Omega\) of \(\mathbb{R}^N\) and homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions are prescribed for \(u\) and \(v\) on \(\partial\Omega\). These results are herein extended to \(\mathbb{R}^N\), some additional care being needed to handle the unboundedness of \(\mathbb{R}^N\). First, local well-posedness is shown in \(BUC(\mathbb{R}^N)\) as well as in \(X_p^\alpha\) for \(p\) large enough and \(\alpha\in \{0\}\cup (1/2,1)\), the space \(X_p^\alpha\) denoting the domain of the fractional power \((\mathrm{id} - \Delta)^\alpha\) in \(X_p^0 = L^p(\mathbb{R}^N)\). The proof relies on the classical properties of the semigroup associated with \(\mathrm{id} - \Delta\) in these spaces. Global well-posedness is next obtained for \(b\geq \chi\) if \(u_0\in BUC(\mathbb{R}^N)\) and for \(2\chi> N (\chi-b)_+\) if \(u_0\in L^1(\mathbb{R}^N)\cap X_p^\alpha\). It is further shown that, if \(u_0\in BUC(\mathbb{R}^N)\) has a positive minimum value and \(b>2\chi\), then \((u(t),v(t))\) converges in \(L^\infty\) towards the homogeneous stationary solution \((a/b,a/b)\) as \(t\to\infty\). Under the sole assumption of non-negativity of \(u_0\in BUC(\mathbb{R}^n)\), such a property only holds on balls of \(\mathbb{R}^N\) expanding at small speeds when \(2b>(3+\sqrt{aN+1})\chi\), meaning that there is \(c_{\mathrm{low}}^*(u_0)>0\) such that \[ \lim_{t\to\infty} \left[ \sup_{\{|x|\leq ct\}} \left| u(x,t) - \frac{a}{b} \right| + \sup_{\{|x|\leq ct\}} \left| v(x,t) - \frac{a}{b} \right| \right]= 0 \] for each \(c\in (0,c_{\mathrm{low}}^*(u_0))\). Assuming further that \(u_0\) is compactly supported, a front-like behaviour is obtained, in the sense that there is \(c_{\mathrm{up}}^*(u_0)\geq c_{\mathrm{low}}^*(u_0)\) such that \[ \lim_{t\to\infty} \left[ \sup_{\{|x|\geq ct\}} u(x,t) + \sup_{\{|x|\geq ct\}} v(x,t) \right]= 0 \] for each \(c>c_{\mathrm{up}}^*(u_0)\). These two properties are clearly reminiscent from the dynamics of the Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrowsky-Piskunov equation which corresponds to \(\chi=0\) in the above system (with \(a>0\)), the speed of propagation being \(2\sqrt{a}\) in that case. The proofs of global existence and large time asymptotics rely on the specific structure of the parabolic-elliptic chemotaxis system which allows one to write the first equation alternatively as a convection-diffusion equation \[ \partial_t u = \Delta u - \chi \nabla v\cdot \nabla u + a u -(b-\chi) u^2 - \chi uv\qquad x\in \mathbb{R}^N\;, \;t>0\;, \] the last term being non-positive. Comparison arguments are then used on this formulation.