Decay and local eventual positivity for biharmonic parabolic equations (Q939279)

Contrary to the second order heat equation, no general positivity preserving property holds for the following Cauchy problem for fourth order parabolic equations \[ \left\{ \begin{matrix} u_{t}+\Delta ^{2}u=0\qquad & \text{in }\mathbb{R}_{+}^{n+1}:=\mathbb{R} ^{n}\times \left[ 0,\infty \right) \\ u\left( x,0\right) =u_{0}(x)\qquad & \text{in }\mathbb{R}^{n}\;, \end{matrix} \right. \tag{1} \] where \(n\geq 1\) and \(u_{0}\in C^{0}\cap L^{\infty }\left( \mathbb{R}^{n}\right)\). This means that positivity of the initial datum \(u_{0}\) does in general not imply positivity (in space and time) for the solution \(u=u(x,t)\) of ({1}). In fact, the underlying self similar kernel displays instantaneous change of sign. Nevertheless, some restricted and somehow hidden versions of a positivity preserving property can be observed, which are discussed in the first part of the paper under consideration. For initial data with a specified asymptotic profile at infinity, not only eventual local positivity is proved. On compact sets even a lower positive bound displaying the precise decay with respect to time is provided. These results are proved by using recurrence properties and the characteristic differential equation of the underlying kernel function. In the second part, all these observations are applied to the corresponding nonlinear problem \[ \left\{ \begin{matrix} u_{t}+\Delta ^{2}u=|u|^{p-1}u\qquad & \text{in }\mathbb{R}_{+}^{n+1} \\ u\left( x,0\right) =u_{0}(x)\qquad & \text{in }\mathbb{R}^{n} \end{matrix} \right.\tag{2} \] where \(p>1+4/n\). The exponent \(1+4/n\) is the analogue of the ``Fujita''-exponent arising in second order semilinear Cauchy problems. Assuming that \(u_0>0\) is small enough and behaves at infinity like \(|x|^{-\beta}\), where \(4/(p-1)\leq \beta<n\), global existence and decay estimates with respect to time and space are proved. This result refines previous work of the second and third author [Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 30, No.~3, 389--415 (2007; Zbl 1131.35036)]. Assuming in addition strict inequality \(4/(p-1)< \beta\) eventual local positivity is shown even for solutions of the nonlinear problem ({2}). Besides basing upon the properties of the corresponding linear problem, the majorising self similar positive kernel introduced by \textit{V. A. Galaktionov} and \textit{S. I. Pohožaev} [Indiana Univ. Math. J. 51, 1321--1338 (2002; Zbl 1082.35079)] and refined estimates for convolution integrals are used.