Classification of local asymptotics for solutions to heat equations with inverse-square potentials (Q717853)

The authors investigate the behavior of solutions to parabolic equations of the form \[ u_t+\Delta u+\frac{a(x/|x|)}{|x|^2}+f(x,t,u)=0 \qquad \text{in } {\mathbb R}^N\times (0,T), \] where \(N\geq 3\), \(T>0\), \(a\in L^\infty(S^{N-1})\), and \(f\) is either linear or subcritical with respect to the third variable. The results of the paper describe the behavior of the solution along the directions \((\lambda x, \lambda^2t)\) which is naturally related to the heat operator. It turns out that \(u(\sqrt{t} x,t)\) behaves as a singular self-similar eigenfunction of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck operator with inverse square potential, multiplied by a power of \(t\) related to the corresponding eigenvalue, which can be selected by the limit of a frequency type function associated to the problem. The proofs rely on a parabolic version of Almgren monotonicity formula combined with blow-up methods. A particular consequence of this approach is a unique continuation property that the authors derive.