Spreading speed and traveling waves for a nonmonotone reaction–diffusion model with distributed delay and nonlocal effect

In this paper, spreading speed and traveling waves for reaction–diffusion model with distributed delay and nonlocal effect without monotonicity are investigated. It is shown that there exists the spreading speed c^∗ which coincides with the minimal wave speed, and its limiting integral equation has an unique traveling wave with speed c > c^∗, and no traveling wave with c < c^∗. Moreover, the dependence of the spreading speed on the delay and the nonlocal effect is considered.     

Traveling waves for non-local delayed diffusion equations via auxiliary equations

In this paper, we study the existence of traveling wave solutions for a class of delayed non-local reaction-diffusion equations without quasi-monotonicity. The approach is based on the construction of two associated auxiliary reaction-diffusion equations with quasi-monotonicity and a profile set in a suitable Banach space by using the traveling wavefronts of the auxiliary equations. Under monostable assumption, by using the Schauder's fixed point theorem, we then show that there exists a constant c_∗>0 such that for each c>c_∗, the equation under consideration admits a traveling wavefront solution with speed c, which is not necessary to be monotonic.     

Spreading speed and traveling waves for a multi-type SIS epidemic model

The theory of asymptotic speeds of spread and monotone traveling waves for monotone semiflows is applied to a multi-type SIS epidemic model to obtain the spreading speed c^∗, and the nonexistence of traveling waves with wave speed c<c^∗. Then the method of upper and lower solutions is used to establish the existence of monotone traveling waves connecting the disease-free and endemic equilibria for c?c^∗. This shows that the spreading speed coincides with the minimum wave speed for monotone traveling waves. We also give an affirmative answer to an open problem presented by Rass and Radcliffe [L. Rass, J. Radcliffe, Spatial Deterministic Epidemics, Math. Surveys Monogr. 102, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2003].     

Asymptotic patterns of a structured population diffusing in a two-dimensional strip

In this paper, we derive a population model for the growth of a single species on a two-dimensional strip with Neumann and Robin boundary conditions. We show that the dynamics of the mature population is governed by a reaction–diffusion equation with delayed global interaction. Using the theory of asymptotic speed of spread and monotone traveling waves for monotone semiflows, we obtain the spreading speed c^∗$c^{\ast }$, the non-existence of traveling waves with wave speed 0<c<c^∗$0<c<c^{\ast }$, and the existence of monotone traveling waves connecting the two equilibria for c≥c^∗$c\ge c^{\ast }$.     

Two-dimensional curved fronts in a periodic shear flow

This paper is devoted to the study of traveling fronts of reaction-diffusion equations with periodic advection in the whole plane R². We are interested in curved fronts satisfying some “conical” conditions at infinity. We prove that there is a minimal speed c^∗ such that curved fronts with speed c exist if and only if c≥c^∗. Moreover, we show that such curved fronts are decreasing in the direction of propagation, that is, they are increasing in time. We also give some results about the asymptotic behaviors of the speed with respect to the advection, diffusion and reaction coefficients.     

Spatial dynamics of a nonlocal and time-delayed reaction-diffusion system

In this paper, we investigate the spatial dynamics of a nonlocal and time-delayed reaction-diffusion system, which is motivated by an age-structured population model with distributed maturation delay. The spreading speed c^*, the existence of traveling waves with the wave speed c?c^*, and the nonexistence of traveling waves with c<c^* are obtained. It turns out that the spreading speed coincides with the minimal wave speed for monotone traveling waves.     

Existence, uniqueness and asymptotic stability of time periodic traveling waves for a periodic Lotka–Volterra competition system with diffusion

We study the existence, uniqueness, and asymptotic stability of time periodic traveling wave solutions to a periodic diffusive Lotka–Volterra competition system. Under certain conditions, we prove that there exists a maximal wave speed c^? such that for each wave speed c?c^?, there is a time periodic traveling wave connecting two semi-trivial periodic solutions of the corresponding kinetic system. It is shown that such a traveling wave is unique modulo translation and is monotone with respect to its co-moving frame coordinate. We also show that the traveling wave solutions with wave speed c<c^? are asymptotically stable in certain sense. In addition, we establish the nonexistence of time periodic traveling waves for nonzero speed c>c^?.     

Traveling wavefronts for time-delayed reaction-diffusion equation: (I) Local nonlinearity

In this paper, we study a class of time-delayed reaction-diffusion equation with local nonlinearity for the birth rate. For all wavefronts with the speed c>c_∗, where c_∗>0 is the critical wave speed, we prove that these wavefronts are asymptotically stable, when the initial perturbation around the traveling waves decays exponentially as x→−∞, but the initial perturbation can be arbitrarily large in other locations. This essentially improves the stability results obtained by Mei, So, Li and Shen [M. Mei, J.W.-H. So, M.Y. Li, S.S.P. Shen, Asymptotic stability of traveling waves for the Nicholson's blowflies equation with diffusion, Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh Sect. A 134 (2004) 579-594] for the speed with small initial perturbation and by Lin and Mei [C.-K. Lin, M. Mei, On travelling wavefronts of the Nicholson's blowflies equations with diffusion, submitted for publication] for c>c_∗ with sufficiently small delay time r≈0. The approach adopted in this paper is the technical weighted energy method used in [M. Mei, J.W.-H. So, M.Y. Li, S.S.P. Shen, Asymptotic stability of traveling waves for the Nicholson's blowflies equation with diffusion, Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh Sect. A 134 (2004) 579-594], but inspired by Gourley [S.A. Gourley, Linear stability of travelling fronts in an age-structured reaction-diffusion population model, Quart. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 58 (2005) 257-268] and based on the property of the critical wavefronts, the weight function is carefully selected and it plays a key role in proving the stability for any c>c_∗ and for an arbitrary time-delay r>0.     

Asymptotic speed of propagation and traveling wave solutions for a lattice integral equation

We investigate the asymptotic speed of propagation and monotone traveling wave solutions for a lattice integral equation which is an epidemic model while the population is distributed on one-dimensional lattice Z$\mathbb{Z}$. It is proved that the asymptotic speed of propagation _c∗$c_{\ast }$ coincides with the minimal wave speed.     

Time periodic traveling wave solutions for periodic advection–reaction–diffusion systems

We study the existence, uniqueness, and asymptotic stability of time periodic traveling wave solutions to a class of periodic advection–reaction–diffusion systems. Under certain conditions, we prove that there exists a maximal wave speed c^?$c^{?}$ such that for each wave speed c≤c^?$c\le c^{?}$, there is a time periodic traveling wave connecting two periodic solutions of the corresponding kinetic system. It is shown that such a traveling wave is unique modulo translation and is monotone with respect to its co-moving frame coordinate. We also show that the traveling wave solutions with wave speed c≤c^?$c\le c^{?}$ are asymptotically stable in certain sense. In addition, we establish the nonexistence of time periodic traveling waves with speed c>c^?$c>c^{?}$.     

Spreading speeds and traveling waves for a nonlocal dispersal equation with convolution-type crossing-monostable nonlinearity

This paper is concerned with the traveling wave solutions and the spreading speeds for a nonlocal dispersal equation with convolution-type crossing-monostable nonlinearity, which is motivated by an age-structured population model with time delay. We first prove the existence of traveling wave solution with critical wave speed c = c*. By introducing two auxiliary monotone birth functions and using a fluctuation method, we further show that the number c = c* is also the spreading speed of the corresponding initial value problem with compact support. Then, the nonexistence of traveling wave solutions for c < c* is established. Finally, by means of the (technical) weighted energy method, we prove that the traveling wave with large speed is exponentially stable, when the initial perturbation around the wave is relatively small in a weighted norm.     

Traveling fronts for a delayed reaction–diffusion system with a quiescent stage

In this paper, we study the traveling wave fronts of a delayed reaction–diffusion system with a quiescent stage for a single species population with two separate mobile and stationary states. By transforming the corresponding wave system into a scalar delayed differential equation with an integral term, we establish the existence of the minimal wave speed c_min, and the asymptotic behavior, monotonicity and uniqueness (up to a translation) of the traveling wave fronts. In particular, the effects of the delay and transfer rates on the minimal wave speed are studied.     

Non-relativistic global limits of entropy solutions to the isentropic relativistic Euler equations

We consider in this paper the relativistic Euler equations in isentropic fluids with the equation of state p = κ²ρ, where κ, the sound speed, is a constant less than the speed of light c. We discuss the convergence of the entropy solutions as c→∞. The analysis is based on the geometric properties of nonlinear wave curves and the Glimm’s method.     

Nonuniqueness of the traveling wave speed for harmonic heat flow

Given any wave speed c∈R, we construct a traveling wave solution of ut=Δu+²|∇u|u in an infinitely long cylinder, which connects two locally stable and axially symmetric steady states at x₃=±∞. Here u is a director field with values in S²⊂R³: |u|=1. The traveling wave has a singular point on the cylinder axis. In view of the bistable character of the potential, the result is surprising, and it is intimately related to the nonuniqueness of the harmonic map flow itself. We show that for only one wave speed the traveling wave behaves locally, near its singular point, as a symmetric harmonic map.     

Non-linear determinacy of minimum wave speed for a Lotka-Volterra competition model

For a reaction-diffusion system that serves as a 2-species Lotka-Volterra diffusive competition model, suppose that the corresponding reaction system has one stable boundary equilibrium and one unstable boundary equilibrium. Then it is well known that there exists a positive number c^?, called the minimum wave speed, such that, for each c larger than or equal to c^?, the reaction-diffusion system has a positive traveling wave solution of wave speed c connecting these two equilibria if and only if c?c^?. It has been shown that the minimum wave speed for this system is identical to another important quantity - the asymptotical speed of population spread towards the stable equilibrium. Hence to find the minimum wave speed c^? not only is of the interest in mathematics but is of the importance in application. It has been conjectured that the minimum wave speed can be determined by studying the eigenvalues of the unstable equilibrium, called the linear determinacy. In this paper we will show that the conjecture on the linear determinacy is not true in general.     

Existence and regularity of extremal solutions for a mean-curvature equation

We study a class of mean curvature equations −Mu=H+λup where M denotes the mean curvature operator and for p?1. We show that there exists an extremal parameter λ^∗ such that this equation admits a minimal weak solutions for all λ∈[0,λ^∗], while no weak solutions exists for λ>λ^∗ (weak solutions will be defined as critical points of a suitable functional). In the radially symmetric case, we then show that minimal weak solutions are classical solutions for all λ∈[0,λ^∗] and that another branch of classical solutions exists in a neighborhood (λ_∗−η,λ^∗) of λ^∗.     

Global stability of traveling wavefronts for nonlocal reaction-diffusion equations with time delay

This paper is concerned with the stability of traveling wavefronts for a population dynamics model with time delay. Combining the weighted energy method and the comparison principle, the global exponential stability of noncritical traveling wavefronts(waves with speeds c c_*, where c = c~* is the minimal speed) is established, when the initial perturbations around the wavefront decays to zero exponentially in space as x →-∞, but it can be allowed arbitrary large in other locations, which improves the results in [9, 18, 21].     

Asymptotic stability for a free boundary problem arising in a tumor model

We consider a tumor model in which all cells are proliferating at a rate μ and their density is proportional to the nutrient concentration. The model consists of a coupled system of an elliptic equation and a parabolic equation, with the tumor boundary as a free boundary. It is known that for an appropriate choice of parameters, there exists a unique spherically symmetric stationary solution with radius RS which is independent of μ. It was recently proved that there is a function μ_∗(RS) such that the spherical stationary solution is linearly stable if μ<μ_∗(RS) and linearly unstable if μ>μ_∗(RS). In this paper we prove that the spherical stationary solution is nonlinearly stable (or, asymptotically stable) if μ<μ_∗(RS).