The blow-up rate for a degenerate parabolic equation with a non-local source (Q5957169)

The authors consider the one-dimensional degenerate parabolic equation, \[ v_t = (v^m)_{xx} + a\int_{-l}^l v^q dx, \qquad x \in (-l, l), \quad t > 0 \] with the Dirichlet boundary conditions and some appropriate initial data \(v_0(x)\). They are interested in the nature and rate of blow-up of solutions in the case when \(q > m > 1\). The work presented here extends the work of \textit{J. R. Anderson} and \textit{K. Deng} [Math. Methods Appl. Sci. 20, 1069-1087 (1997; Zbl 0883.35066)]. Note that the case of \(m=1\) can be treated by eigenfunction expansion. The main results of the paper are contained in Theorems 1 and 2, proved under a number of assumptions ((H1)--(H5)) on the initial data. Of these, assumption (H5), \(u_{0xx} = v^m_{0xx}\leq 0\), plays the crucial role. Theorem 1 states that under the assumptions (H1)--(H5) on the initial data, the blow-up is global, that is, every point \(x \in (-l,l)\) is a blow-up point. Proof of blow-up uses sub- and supersolutions, while the main point in the proof of global blow-up (Lemma 4.1) is to prove that concavity of the solution is preserved. Theorem 2 presents very precise bounds on the rate of blow-up. If we set \(r=(m-1)/m\) and \( p=q/m\), the result is that \(u=v^m\) blows up as \(t \rightarrow T^*\), where \(T^* < \infty\) is the blow-up time, at the following rate: \[ C_1(T^*-t)^{-1/(p+r-1)} \leq \max_{x \in [-l,l]} u(x,t) \leq C_1(T^*-t)^{-1/(p+r-1)} \] for some positive constants \(C_1\), \(C_2\). The proof proceeds by considering the behaviour of the function \(F(t) = 1/(p+1-r) \int_{-l}^l u^{p+1-r} dx\) (Lemma 4.3); the concavity assumption (H5) is crucially used again.