Asymptotic behavior of type I blowup solutions to a parabolic-elliptic system of drift-diffusion type (Q715305)

Let \(U\) be a non-negative radially symmetric solution to the drift-diffusion equation (also referred to the parabolic-elliptic Keller-Segel system or the Smoluchowski-Poisson equation) \[ \partial_t U = \mathrm{div} \left( \nabla U - U \nabla (E_N*U) \right) \;\text{ in }\;\mathbb{R}^N \times (0,T) , \quad U(0)=U_0 \in L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^N) . \] Here the space dimension \(N\) is greater or equal to \(3\) and \(E_N\) denotes the Poisson kernel. Assume that \(U\) blows up at the finite time \(T\) with a single blowup point located at \(x=0\) and that the blowup is of type~I, that is, \(\|U(t)\|_\infty \leq \kappa (T-t)^{-1}\) for \(t\in (0,T)\). It is proved that \(U\) behaves in an asymptotically backward self-similar way as \(t\to T\) in a neighbourhood of zero: \[ \lim_{t\to T} (T-t) U(x\sqrt{T-t},t) = |x| \varphi_\alpha'(|x|) + N \varphi_\alpha(|x|) , \] where \(\alpha>0\) is such that the initial value problem \[ \varphi''(r) + \left( \frac{N+1}{r} - \frac{r}{2} \right) \varphi'(r) - \varphi(r) + \varphi(r) \left( r \varphi'(r) + N \varphi(r) \right) = 0, \quad r>0 , \] has a positive solution \(\varphi_\alpha\) in \((0,\infty)\) satisfying \(\varphi_\alpha(0)=\alpha\) and \(\varphi_\alpha'(0)=0\). The connection between the equation solved by \(U\) and \(\varphi_\alpha\) is made by the classical use of the cumulative distribution function \(u\) of \(U\) and the self-similar variables \[ u(\xi,t) = \frac{1}{|B(0,1)| \xi^N} \int_{B(0,\xi)} U(x,t) dx , \quad w\left( \frac{\xi}{\sqrt{T-t}},-\log(T-t) \right) = u(\xi,t) \] for \((\xi,t)\in (0,\infty)\times (0,T)\). Then \(\varphi_\alpha\) is a stationary solution to the evolution equation solved by \(w\) and the asymptotic backward self-similarity of \(U\) follows from the convergence of \(w\) to \(\varphi_\alpha\). To achieve the latter requires a detailed study of the oscillatory behaviour of the family \((\varphi_\alpha)\) and the usual Liapunov functional argument is replaced by an analyticity argument.