Renormalized solutions to nonlinear parabolic problems in generalized Musielak-Orlicz spaces (Q893298)

The authors prove the existence of renormalized solutions to a nonlinear parabolic problem \( \partial_t u-\operatorname{div}a(\cdot, Du)=f \) with right-hand side \(f\) and initial data \(u_0\) in \(L^1.\) The growth and coercivity conditions on the monotone vector field \(a\) are prescribed by a generalized \(N\)-function \(M\) which is anisotropic and inhomogeneous with respect to the space variable. In particular, \(M\) does not satisfy an upper growth bound described by a \(\Delta_2\)-condition such that the authors work with generalized Musielak-Orlicz spaces which are not necessarily reflexive. Moreover, they prove a weak sequential stability result for the more general problem \[ \begin{cases} \partial_t\beta(x, u(t,x))-\operatorname{div}(a(x,Du(t,x)))+F(u(t,x))=f & \text{ in } Q_T,\\ u=0 & \text{ on } (0,T)\times\partial\Omega,\\ \beta(x,u(0,x))=b_0 & \text{ in } \Omega, \end{cases} \] where \(\beta\) is a monotone function with respect to the second variable and \(F\) is locally Lipschitz continuous. The proof makes use of truncation methods, Young measure techniques, the integration by parts formula and monotonicity arguments which have been adapted to nonreflexive Musielak-Orlicz spaces.