Global solutions of continuous coagulation-fragmentation equations with unbounded coefficients (Q827498)

The well-posedness of the coagulation-fragmentation equation \begin{align*} \partial_t f(t,x) & = \frac{1}{2} \int_0^x k(x-y,y) f(t,x-y) f(t,y)\ dy - \int_0^\infty k(x,y) f(t,x) f(t,y)\ dy \\ & \quad - a(x) f(t,x) + \int_0^\infty a(y) b(x,y) f(t,y)\ dy \end{align*} for \((t,x)\in (0,\infty)\times (0,\infty)\) is investigated for a class of unbounded coagulation and fragmentation coefficients, when the coagulation is suitably dominated by the fragmentation. More precisely, the daughter distribution function \(b\) is assumed to be nonnegative and measurable and to satisfy \[ \int_0^y x b(x,y)dx=\text{ and }b(x,y)=0 \text{ for a.e. }x>y\,, \] \[ \int_0^y b(x,y)\ dx \le b_0 (1+x^l)\,, \qquad y>0\,, \] and \[ \limsup_{x\to\infty} \frac{1}{y^{m_0}} \int_0^y x^{m_0} b(x,y)\ dx < 1 \] for some \(b_0>0\), \(l\ge 0\), and \(m_0>1\). It is first shown that, if the coagulation kernel \(k\) satisfies \[ 0 \le k(x,y) = k(y,x) \le K_0 (1+a(x))^\alpha (1+a(y))^\alpha\,, \qquad (x,y)\in (0,\infty)^2\,, \] for some \(K_0\ge 0\) and \(\alpha\in (0,1)\) and if the initial condition \(f^{in}\) is nonnegative and belongs to \(L_1((0,\infty),(1+a(x)^\alpha)(1+x^m)dx)\) for some \(m>\max\{1,l\}\), then there is a unique classical solution in \(L_1((0,\infty),(1+a(x)^\alpha)(1+x^m)dx)\) to the coagulation-fragmentation equation which is defined up to a maximal existence time \(\tau(f^{in})\in (0,\infty]\). Global existence (\(\tau(f^{in})=\infty\)) is next established when the coagulation kernel satisfies the stronger growth assumption \[ 0 \le k(x,y) = k(y,x) \le K_1 \left[ (1+a(x))^\alpha + (1+a(y))^\alpha \right]\,, \qquad (x,y)\in (0,\infty)^2\,, \] for some \(K_1>0\) and \(\alpha\in (0,1)\). The proofs rely on analyticity properties of the semigroup associated with the fragmentation operator in \(L_1((0,\infty),(1+x^m)dx)\) and moment estimates.