On the critical exponent for reaction-diffusion equations (Q914983)

The paper gives a characterization of the critical exponent \(p^*\) for the equation \[ du/dt-\Delta u=h(t)u^ p\text{ in } D\times (0,T) \] together with homogeneous boundary conditions where h(t) is continuous, positive such that \(\alpha_ 0t^ q\leq h(t)\leq \alpha_ 1t^ q\) for large t \((q>-1)\), and D is a smooth (bounded or unbounded) domain in \({\mathbb{R}}^ 2\) or \({\mathbb{R}}^ 3.\) For \(p>p^*\) there exists a global nontrivial solution and for \(1<p<p^*\) no global nontrivial solution exists. For some conical domains D the value of \(p^*\) is determined. Similar results are obtained when D is a bounded domain and \(h(t)\sim e^{\beta t}\) for large t.