A quasilinear parabolic singular perturbation problem (Q998912)

Summary: We study the following singular perturbation problem for a quasilinear uniformly parabolic operator of interest of combustion theory: \[ \operatorname{div} F(\nabla u^\varepsilon)- \partial_tu^\varepsilon= \beta_\varepsilon(u^\varepsilon), \] where \(u^\varepsilon\geq 0\), \(\beta_\varepsilon(s)= (1/\varepsilon) \beta(s/\varepsilon)\), \(\varepsilon>0\), \(\beta\) is Lipschitz continuous, \(\operatorname{supp}\beta= [0,1]\) and \(\beta>0\) in \((0,1)\). We obtain uniform estimates, we pass to the limit \((\varepsilon\to0)\) and we show that, under suitable assumptions, the limit function \(u\) is a solution to the free boundary problem \[ \begin{aligned} \operatorname{div}F(\nabla u)-\partial_tu= 0&\quad\text{in }\{u>0\},\\ u_\nu= \alpha(\nu,M) &\quad\text{on }\partial\{u>0\}, \end{aligned} \] in a pointwise sense and in a viscosity sense. Here \(u_\nu\) denotes the derivative of \(u\) with respect to the inward unit spatial normal \(\nu\) to the free boundary \(\partial\{u>0\}\), \(M= \int\beta(s)\,ds\), \(\alpha(\nu,M):= \Phi_\nu^{-1}(M)\) and \(\Phi_\nu(\alpha):= -A(\alpha\nu)+ \alpha\nu\cdot F(\alpha\nu)\), where \(A(p)\) is such that \(F(p)= \nabla A(p)\) with \(A(0)=0\). Some of the results obtained are new even when the operator under consideration is linear.