The explosion problem in a flow (Q977293)

For a divergence-free fluid velocity \(u\in C^1(\overline\Omega)\), defined in a smooth bounded domain \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^n\), the present paper deals with the study of the existence of a critical parameter \(\lambda^*(u)>0\) such that, for every \(0<\lambda<\lambda^*(u)\), the Dirichlet problem of the elliptic equation \(-\Delta\varphi+Au\cdot \nabla \varphi=\lambda g(\varphi)\) in \(\Omega\) admits nonnegative solutions, under the assumption that \(g\) is a convex and increasing function with \(g(0)>0\) and \(\int^\infty_0{ds\over g(s)}<\infty\). Moreover, their dependence on the flow amplitude \(A\geq 1\) (in particular, \(A=1\) and \(A\gg1\)) is analysed. The proof of the presented results are based on the existence of the principal Dirichlet eigenvalue of operators of the form \(-\Delta+Au\cdot \nabla\) on \(\Omega\).