A discrete velocity kinetic model with food metric: chemotaxis traveling waves (Q526619)

The authors study traveling wave solutions to the discrete velocity kinetic model \[ \begin{cases} \partial_t u^r + \partial_x \left( \frac{s}{m} u^r \right) = - \lambda_0 u^r + \lambda_0 u^l , \quad & (x,t) \in \mathbb{R} \times (0,\infty), \\ \partial_t u^l - \partial_x \left( \frac{s}{m} u^l \right) = \lambda_0 u^r - \lambda_0 u^l , \quad & (x,t) \in \mathbb{R} \times (0,\infty), \\ \partial_t m = -\kappa(m) (u^r + u^l), \quad & (x,t) \in \mathbb{R} \times (0,\infty), \end{cases}\tag{1} \] where \(u^r\) and \(u^l\) are the fractional population densities of a species \(u\) which move to the right and the left, respectively, \(m\) is the food distribution, and \(\kappa(m)\) is a consumption rate. It is assumed that the species has a constant tumbling rate \(\lambda_0 >0\) and that it moves with a constant speed \(s\) with respect to the food metric \(d_t (a,b) = | \int_a^b m(x,t) dx |\). The authors prove the existence, uniqueness and structure of traveling wave solutions to the mesoscopic chemotaxis model (1) and provide numerical simulations. Moreover, it is shown that the traveling wave behavior for (1) and the macroscopic model \[ \begin{cases} \partial_t u = \partial_x \left( \frac{D}{m^2} (u_x - \frac{u}{m} m_x) \right), \quad & (x,t) \in \mathbb{R} \times (0,\infty), \\ \partial_t m = -\kappa(m) u, \quad & (x,t) \in \mathbb{R} \times (0,\infty), \end{cases} \] is similar, where the macroscopic model is formally derived from (1) by a diffusion limit. Finally, the authors show that the traveling wave behavior for (1) and the Keller-Segel model \[ \begin{cases} \partial_t u = \partial_x \left( d u_x - \chi \frac{u}{m} m_x \right), \quad & (x,t) \in \mathbb{R} \times (0,\infty), \\ \partial_t m = -\kappa(m) u, \quad & (x,t) \in \mathbb{R} \times (0,\infty), \end{cases} \] is different. In particular, (1) has an infinite mass traveling pulse for some \(\kappa\) with superlinear growth which does not exist for the latter Keller-Segel model.