Critical behavior for a semilinear parabolic equation with forcing term depending on time and space (Q777152)

The authors investigate the large-time behavior (global existence and blow-up) of the sign-changing solution of the inhomogeneous semilinear heat equation given by \[ \begin{cases} u_{t}=\Delta u+\vert u\vert^{p}+t^{\sigma}w(x),&(t,x)\in (0,T)\times \mathbb{R}^{N}, \\ u(0,x)=u_{0},&x\in \mathbb{R}^{N}. \end{cases} \tag{\(\ast\)} \] The hypotheses on the parameters are: \(N\geq 2\), \(\ p>1\), \(0\neq \sigma>-1\). In [J. Fac. Sci., Univ. Tokyo, Sect. I 13, 109--124 (1966; Zbl 0163.34002)], \textit{H. Fujita} studied the case when \(w\equiv 0\) and \(u_{0}\geq 0\) in Problem \((\ast)\). He obtained some results in the following cases: Case 1: For \(1<p<1+2/N\), Problem \((\ast)\) admits no nontrivial global-in-time solutions, Case 2: For \(p>1+2/N\), Problem \((\ast)\) admits a global-in-time solution when \(u_{0}\) is small. Later, during the period 1973--1981, some works had shown, among other results, that the borderline case \(p=1+2/N\) belongs to the blow-up category. So, the number \(p=1+2/N\) was called the critical Fujita exponent. A large number of authors studied this type of problems until 2019. For instance, the case \(u_{0}\geq 0\), \(w\geq 0\) and \(\sigma =0\) has been treated when the space \(\mathbb{R}^{N}\) is replaced by a non-compact complete Riemannian manifold, and the Laplacian operator \(\Delta\) is replaced by the Laplace-Beltrami operator. It has been proven that the forcing term has the effect of increasing the critical Fujita exponent. In [Appl. Math. Lett. 99, Article ID 105985, 6 p. (2020; Zbl 1426.35045)], \textit{M. Jleli} and \textit{B. Samet} observed a similar phenomenon for a nonlocal-in-time nonlinear heat equation. In the present paper, the authors impose some conditions on \(w\), and identify the critical Fujita exponent for the following problem which is equivalent to Problem \((\ast)\): \[ u(t)=e^{t\Delta}u_{0}+\int_{0}^{t}e^{(t-s)\Delta}(\vert u(s)\vert^{p}+s^{\sigma}w)ds,\quad 0\leq t\leq T\tag{\(\ast \ast\)} \] where \(e^{t\Delta}\) is the heat semigroup. On the other hand, they show the discontinuity of this exponent at \(\sigma =0\). The originality of this work is that the forcing term contains the factor \(t^{\sigma}\) becoming \(t^{\sigma}w(x)\). This is the main results of the paper: For \(\sigma \in (-1,0)\). There exists a critical exponent \(p^{\ast}\) (depending on \(\sigma)\), \(p^{\ast}=\frac{N-2\sigma}{N-2-2\sigma}\), such that: \begin{itemize} \item[a)] When \(1<p<p\ast \) and \(\int_{\mathbb{R}^{N}}w(x)\,dx>0\),\ the solution of Problem \((\ast \ast)\) blows up in finite time; \item[b)] When \(p\geq p\ast\), the solution of Problem \((\ast \ast)\) is global for suitably small \(u_{0}\) and \(w\). \end{itemize} For \(\sigma >0\), the solution of Problem \((\ast \ast)\) blows up in finite time for any \(u_{0}\), and \(p^{\ast}=\infty \).