The sharp estimate of the lifespan for semilinear wave equation with time-dependent damping. (Q667915)

In this paper, the authors considered the semilinear damped wave equation \(\partial_t^2u-\Delta u+b(t)\partial_tu=|u|^p\) with small initial data of size \(\varepsilon\), on \(\mathbb{R}^n\), where \(p>1\), and \(b(t)=(1+t)^{-\beta}\) with \(\beta\in[-1,1)\). It is known that small data blow-up occurs when \(1<p<p_F\) and, on the other hand, small data global existence holds when \(p>p_F\), where \(p_F:=1+2/n\) is the Fujita exponent. The sharp estimate of the lifespan was also well studied when \(1<p<p_F\). Concerning the critical case \(p=p_F\), certain lower bound and upper bound of the lifespan has also been obtained. However, the sharp estimates of the lifespan remains open. Recently, Ning-An Lai and Yi Zhou obtained the sharp upper estimate of the lifespan for the critical case, when \(\beta=0\), that is, \(b(t)=1\), in [\textit{N.-A. Lai} and \textit{Y. Zhou}, J. Math. Pures Appl. (9) 123, 229--243 (2019; Zbl 1411.35207)], which opens up the possibility to fill the gap for the general case. In the present paper, the authors give the sharp upper estimate of the lifespan for the critical case, when \(\beta\in[-1,1)\), by the Lai-Zhou method. More precisely, for small data of size \(\varepsilon\ll 1\) with certain positivity and regularity requirement, it is shown that, \(T(\varepsilon)\le\exp(\exp(C\varepsilon^{-2/n}))\) when \(\beta=-1\), and \(T(\varepsilon)\le\exp(C\varepsilon^{-2/n})\) when \(\beta\in(-1,1)\), for some constant \(C>0\).