Global existence and blow-up results for an equation of Kirchhoff type on \(\mathbb{R}^N\) (Q5946918)

The authors investigate the initial value problem for the degenerate nonlocal quasilinear wave equation of Kirchhoff type with a weak dissipative term \(u_{tt}-\varphi (x) \|\nabla u(t)\|^2 \Delta u + \delta u_t = |u|^\alpha u\), \(x\in \mathbb{R}^N\), \(t\geq 0\), \(\delta\geq 0\), \(N\geq 3,\) \(\varphi(x)>0\) for all \(x\in \mathbb{R}^N\), \((\varphi(x))^{-1}=:g(x)\in L^{N/2}(\mathbb{R}^N)\cap L^\infty (\mathbb{R}^N),\) \( u(x,0)=u_0(x)\), \(u_t(x,0)=u_1(x)\), \(x\in \mathbb{R}^N.\) In order to overcome difficulties connected with non-compactness arising from the unboundedness of the domain, the spaces \(\mathcal D^{1,2}(\mathbb{R}^N)\), \(D(A)\) and \(L_g^2(\mathbb{R}^N)\) are introduced. The space \(\mathcal D^{1,2}(\mathbb{R}^N)\) is defined as the closure of \(C_0^\infty(\mathbb{R}^N)\) with respect to energy norm \(\|u\|^2 = \int_{\mathbb{R}^N} |\nabla u|^2 dx\), \(D(A)\) is the domain of the operator \(A=-\varphi \Delta.\) The asymptotic behaviour of solutions is discussed. When the initial energy \(E(u_0,u_1)\) corresponding to the problem is non-negative and small, there exists a unique global solution in time. When \(E(u_0,u_1)\) is negative, the solution blows up in finite time. A combination of the modified potential well method and the concavity method is used.