A porous medium equation with spatially inhomogeneous absorption. I: Self-similar solutions (Q6640913)

Let \(N\ge 1\), \(p>m>1\) and \(\sigma>0\) and set\N\[\N\alpha = \frac{\sigma+2}{\sigma(m-1)+2(p-1)}>0, \qquad \beta = \frac{p-m}{\sigma(m-1)+2(p-1)}>0.\N\]\NThe behaviour of the solution \(f_A\) to the ordinary differential equation\N\begin{align*}\N& (f^m)''(\xi) + \frac{N-1}{\xi} (f^m)'(\xi) + \alpha f(\xi) + \beta \xi f'(\xi) - \xi^\sigma f^p(\xi) = 0, \qquad \xi>0, \\\N&f(0) = A, \ f'(0) = 0,\N\end{align*}\Nis classified according to the value of \(A>0\) and the sign of \(p-p_F\), where \(p_F = m + \frac{\sigma+2}{N}\). Introducing \(\xi_A = \inf\{\xi> 0\ :\ f_A(\xi)=0\}\in (0,\infty]\), there is \(A^*>0\) such that \(f_A\) is decreasing on \([0,\xi_A]\) when \(A\in (0,A^*]\), while \(\xi_A=\infty\) and there is a unique \(\xi_0(A)>0\) such that \(f_A\) is decreasing on \((0,\xi_0(A))\) and increasing on \((\xi_0(A),\infty)\) when \(A>A^*\). In addition, \(\xi_{A^*} = \infty\). Next, if \(p\ge p_F\), then \(\xi_A=\infty\) for all \(A\in (0,A^*)\) and there is \(A_0\in (0,A^*]\) such that \(f_A(\xi) \sim C \xi^{-(\sigma+2)/(p-m)}\) as \(\xi\to\infty\) when \(A\in (0,A_0)\) and \(f_A(\xi) \sim C_p \xi^{-\sigma/(p-1)}\) as \(\xi\to\infty\) when \(A\in [A_0,A^*]\), with \(C_p=(p-1)^{-1/(p-1)}\). Finally, if \(p\in (m,p_F)\), there is a unique \(A_*\in (0,A^*)\) such that \(\xi_{A_*}=0\) with \((f_{A_*}^m)'(\xi_{A_*})=0\) and \(\xi_A=\infty\) for all \(A\in (A_*,A^*)\). Moreover, there is \(A_0\in (A_*,A^*]\) such that a similar dichotomy as in the previous case separates the behaviour as \(\xi\to\infty\) according to whether \(A\in (A_*,A_0)\) or \(A\in [A_0,A^*]\). It is conjectured that \(A_0=A^*\) in both cases.\N\NThe proof relies on the transformation of the above differential equation to a three-dimensional autonomous differential system to which a shooting technique is applied.\N\NThis analysis is motivated by the study of radially symmetric self-similar solutions to \(\partial_t u - \Delta u^m + |x|^\sigma u^p = 0\) in \((0,\infty)\times \mathbb{R}^N\) of the form \(u(t,x) = t^{-\alpha} f(|x|t^{-\beta})\).