Asymptotics in semilinear periodic diffusion equations with Dirichlet or Robin boundary conditions (Q1181009)

This paper treats the asymptotic behaviour of solutions of the nonlinear equation \(\partial_ t u-k(t)\Delta u=m(x,t)h(u)\) in \(\Omega\times(0,\infty)\) with periodic coefficients \(k\), \(m\). Here \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^ n\) is a smooth bounded domain, \(k\) and \(m\) are Hölder-continuous functions, \(k>0\) and \(h\) defined on some subinterval of \(\mathbb{R}_ +\) is a nonnegative concave \(C^ 2\)-function with \(h(0)=0\) satisfying some additional conditions. Furthermore both homogeneous Dirichlet and Robin boundary conditions are considered. In this situation the author proves that each solution converges in \(C^ 2(\overline\Omega)\) to a periodic solution as \(t\to\infty\). Moreover, the periodic asymptotically stable solutions are described in terms of stability of the linearized equation. More precisely, \(u=0\) is linearly stable or \(u=0\) is linearly neutrally stable and \(h\) is strictly concave implies that \(u=0\) is a globally asymptotically stable solution; \(u=0\) is linearly unstable implies that there is a unique positive periodic globally asymptotically stable solution. If however \(u=0\) is linearly neutrally stable and \(h\) is linear on some interval \([0,s]\), then the periodic asymptotics of solutions of the equation are given by a one-parameter family of periodic solutions.