Self-similar blow up with a continuous range of values of the aggregated mass for a degenerate Keller-Segel system (Q536521)

The existence of self-similar blowing-up (or backward) solutions with finite mass is investigated for the degenerate parabolic-elliptic Keller-Segel system \[ \partial_t u = \nabla\cdot (\nabla u^m - u \nabla v), \quad 0 = \Delta v + u, \quad (x,t)\in {\mathbb R}^N\times (0,\infty), \] with critical diffusion exponent \(m=2(N-1)/N\) and \(N\geq 3\). More precisely, given \(T>0\), solutions of the form \[ u(x,t) = \frac{1}{T-t} \Phi\left( \frac{|x|}{(T-t)^{1/N}} \right), \quad v(x,t) = \frac{1}{(T-t)^{(N-2)/N}} \Psi\left( \frac{|x|}{(T-t)^{1/N}} \right), \] for \((x,t)\in {\mathbb R}^N\times (0,T)\) are sought for some nonnegative and integrable function \(\Phi\) and nonnegative function \(\Psi\). The profiles \(\Phi\) and \(\Psi\) are then given by \[ \Phi_\beta(r) = \left( \frac{N-2}{2(N-1)} \right)^{N/(N-2)} Q_\beta(r)^{N/(N-2)}, \quad \Psi_\beta(r) = Q_\beta(r) - \frac{r^2}{2N}, \] for some \(\beta>0\), and \(Q_\beta\) solves the initial-value problem \[ Q_\beta''(r) + \frac{N-1}{r} Q_\beta'(r) + \left( \frac{N-2}{2(N-1)} \right)^{N/(N-2)} Q_\beta(r)^{N/(N-2)} - 1 = 0, \quad Q_\beta(0)=0, \] as long as \(Q_\beta(r)>0\). It is proved that, for \(\beta\) large enough, \(Q_\beta\) indeed vanishes at some point \(r_\beta>0\) and gives rise to a compactly supported profile \(\Phi_\beta\) with finite mass \(m_\beta=\|\Phi_\beta\|_1\). First-order expansions of \(r_\beta\) and \(m_\beta\) as \(\beta\to\infty\) are computed, showing that \(m_\beta\) converges to the previously identified threshold mass \(m_\infty\) below which no finite time blow-up phenomenon can occur. A complete study of the behaviour of \(Q_\beta\) for all values of \(\beta>0\) is performed in [\textit{A. Blanchet} and \textit{Ph. Laurençot}, ``Finite mass self-similar blowing-up solution of a chemotaxis system with non-linear diffusion'', Commun. Pure Appl. Anal., to appear].