Traveling waves in a one-dimensional heterogeneous medium

We consider solutions of a scalar reaction–diffusion equation of the ignition type with a random, stationary and ergodic reaction rate. We show that solutions of the Cauchy problem spread with a deterministic rate in the long time limit. We also establish existence of generalized random traveling waves and of transition fronts in general heterogeneous media.     

Whitham modulation theory for the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation and stability analysis of its periodic traveling wave solutions

We derive the Whitham modulation equations for the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation via a multiple scales expansion and averaging two conservation laws over one oscillation period of its periodic traveling wave solutions. We then use the Whitham modulation equations to study the transverse stability of the periodic traveling wave solutions. We find that all periodic solutions traveling along the first spatial coordinate are linearly unstable with respect to purely transversal perturbations, and we obtain an explicit expression for the growth rate of perturbations in the long wave limit. We validate these predictions by linearizing the equation around its periodic solutions and solving the resulting eigenvalue problem numerically. We also calculate the growth rate of the solitary waves analytically. The predictions of Whitham modulation theory are in excellent agreement with both of these approaches. Finally, we generalize the stability analysis to periodic waves traveling in arbitrary directions and to perturbations that are not purely transversal, and we determine the resulting domains of stability and instability.     

Linear Stability of Viscous Roll Waves

The purpose of this paper is to study the linear stability of “viscous” roll waves. These are periodic continuous traveling waves solutions of viscous perturbations of inhomogeneous hyperbolic systems. We first study the scalar case for the Burgers equation and for an inhomogeneous hyperbolic equation. Then we analyze the stability of roll waves, solutions of the shallow water equations with a real viscosity. In both cases, we first analyze the Evans function and compute an asymptotic expansion in the low frequency regime. Under a strong spectral stability condition, we prove the linear stability of viscous roll waves, solutions of the Saint Venant equations, with pointwise estimates on the Green functions.     

Transverse Spectral Stability of Small Periodic Traveling Waves for the KP Equation

The Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (KP) equation possesses a four‐parameter family of one‐dimensional periodic traveling waves. We study the spectral stability of the waves with small amplitude with respect to two‐dimensional perturbations which are either periodic in the direction of propagation, with the same period as the one‐dimensional traveling wave, or nonperiodic (localized or bounded). We focus on the so‐called KP‐I equation (positive dispersion case), for which we show that these periodic waves are unstable with respect to both types of perturbations. Finally, we briefly discuss the KP‐II equation, for which we show that these periodic waves are spectrally stable with respect to perturbations that are periodic in the direction of propagation, and have long wavelengths in the transverse direction.     

Stability of non-monotone traveling waves for a discrete diffusion equation with monostable convolution type nonlinearity

This paper is concerned with the stability of non-monotone traveling waves for a discrete diffusion equation with monostable convolution type nonlinearity. By using the anti-weighted energy method and nonlin-ear Halanay’s inequality, we prove that all noncritical traveling waves (waves with speeds c > c_*, c_* is minimal speed) are time-exponentially stable, when the initial perturbations around the waves are small. As a corollary of our stability result, we immediately obtain the uniqueness of the traveling waves.     

Dispersion relations for rotational gravity water flows having two jumps in the vorticity distribution

We derive the dispersion relation for periodic traveling waves propagating at the surface of water with a layer of constant non-zero vorticity situated between two layers of irrotational flow. Due to the complicated nature of the dispersion relation – a fourth order algebraic equation with intricate coefficients – we also give an estimate of a very simple form involving only the levels at which the vorticity has jumps. Our formula generalizes a corresponding one from [5].     

Pointwise convergence to shock waves for viscous conservation laws

We are interested in the pointwise behavior of the perturbations of shock waves for viscous conservation laws. It is shown that, besides a translation of the shock waves and of linear and nonlinear diffusion waves of heat and Burgers equations, a perturbation also gives rise to algebraically decaying terms, which measure the coupling of waves of different characteristic families. Our technique is a combination of time-asymptotic expansion, construction of approximate Green functions, and analysis of nonlinear wave interactions. The pointwise estimates yield optimal L_p convergence of the perturbation to the shock and diffusion waves, 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞. The new approach of obtaining pointwise estimates based on the Green functions for the linearized system and the analysis of nonlinear wave interactions is also useful for studying the stability of waves of distinct types and nonclassical shocks. These are being explored elsewhere. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Asymptotic stability of traveling wave fronts in nonlocal reaction–diffusion equations with delay

This paper is concerned with the asymptotic stability of traveling wave fronts of a class of nonlocal reaction–diffusion equations with delay. Under monostable assumption, we prove that the traveling wave front is exponentially stable by means of the (technical) weighted energy method, when the initial perturbation around the wave is suitable small in a weighted norm. The exponential convergent rate is also obtained. Finally, we apply our results to some population models and obtain some new results, which recover, complement and/or improve a number of existing ones.     

Asymptotic Stability of Traveling Wave Solutions for Perturbations with Algebraic Decay

For a class of scalar partial differential equations that incorporate convection, diffusion, and possibly dispersion in one space and one time dimension, the stability of traveling wave solutions is investigated. If the initial perturbation of the traveling wave profile decays at an algebraic rate, then the solution is shown to converge to a shifted wave profile at a corresponding temporal algebraic rate, and optimal intermediate results that combine temporal and spatial decay are obtained. The proofs are based on a general interpolation principle which says that algebraic decay results of this form always follow if exponential temporal decay holds for perturbation with exponential spatial decay and the wave profile is stable for general perturbations.     

Stability analysis of impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with distributed delays and reaction–diffusion terms

In this paper, we investigate a class of impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with distributed delays and reaction–diffusion terms. By establishing an integro-differential inequality with impulsive initial conditions and applying M-matrix theory, we find some sufficient conditions ensuring the existence, uniqueness, global exponential stability and global robust exponential stability of equilibrium point for impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with distributed delays and reaction–diffusion terms. An example is given to illustrate the results obtained here.     

Spreading speeds of a partially degenerate reaction–diffusion system in a periodic habitat

This paper is devoted to the study of the spreading speeds of a partially degenerate reaction–diffusion system with monostable nonlinearity in a periodic habitat. We first obtain sufficient conditions for the existence of principal eigenvalues in the case where solution maps of the associated linear systems lack compactness, and prove a threshold type result on the global dynamics for the periodic initial value problem. Then we establish the existence and computational formulae of spreading speeds for the general initial value problem. It turns out that the spreading speed is linearly determinate.     

The Transverse Instability of Periodic Waves in Zakharov–Kuznetsov Type Equations

In this paper, we investigate the instability of one‐dimensionally stable periodic traveling wave solutions of the generalized Korteweg‐de Vries equation to long wavelength transverse perturbations in the generalized Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation in two space dimensions. By deriving appropriate asymptotic expansions of the periodic Evans function, we derive an index which yields sufficient conditions for transverse instabilities to occur. This index is geometric in nature, and applies to any periodic traveling wave profile under some minor smoothness assumptions on the nonlinearity. We also describe the analogous theory for periodic traveling waves of the generalized Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation to long wavelength transverse perturbations in the gBBM–Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation.     

Multidimensional stability of V-shaped traveling fronts in the Allen-Cahn equation

This paper is concerned with the multidimensional asymptotic stability of V-shaped traveling fronts in the Allen-Cahn equation under spatial decaying initial values.We frst show that V-shaped traveling fronts are asymptotically stable under the perturbations that decay at infnity.Then we further show that there exists a solution that oscillates permanently between two V-shaped traveling fronts,which indicates that V-shaped traveling fronts are not always asymptotically stable under general bounded perturbations.Our main technique is the supersolutions and subsolutions method coupled with the comparison principle.     

Existence of periodic travelling wave solutions of non-autonomous reaction–diffusion equations with lambda–omega type

Periodic travelling wave solutions of reaction–diffusion equations were studied by many authors. The λ–ω$\lambda \text{–}\omega$ type reaction–diffusion system is a notable special model that admits explicit periodic travelling wave solutions and was introduced by Kopell and Howard in 1973. There are now similar systems which are investigated by means of autonomous dynamics. In contrast, there are few papers which are concerned with non-autonomous cases. For this reason, we apply Mawhin’s continuation theorem to derive the existence of periodic travelling wave solutions for non-autonomous λ–ω$\lambda \text{–}\omega$ systems, and we describe the ‘disappearance’ of periodic travelling wave solutions under special situations. Our main result is also illustrated by examples.     

Application of He's variational iteration method for solving the Cauchy reaction–diffusion problem

In this paper, the solution of Cauchy reaction–diffusion problem is presented by means of variational iteration method. Reaction–diffusion equations have special importance in engineering and sciences and constitute a good model for many systems in various fields. Application of variational iteration technique to this problem shows the rapid convergence of the sequence constructed by this method to the exact solution. Moreover, this technique does not require any discretization, linearization or small perturbations and therefore it reduces significantly the numerical computations.     

Existence of traveling wave solutions for influenza model with treatment

To investigate the spreading speed of influenza and the influence of treatment on the spreading speed, a reaction–diffusion influenza model with treatment is established. The existence of traveling wave solutions is shown by introducing an auxiliary system and applying the Schauder fixed point theorem. The non-existence of traveling wave solutions is proved by a two-sided Laplace transform, which needs a new approach for the prior estimate of exponential decay of traveling wave solutions.     

Stability of small periodic waves for the nonlinear Schrödinger equation

The nonlinear Schrödinger equation possesses three distinct six-parameter families of complex-valued quasiperiodic traveling waves, one in the defocusing case and two in the focusing case. All these solutions have the property that their modulus is a periodic function of x−ct for some c∈R. In this paper we investigate the stability of the small amplitude traveling waves, both in the defocusing and the focusing case. Our first result shows that these waves are orbitally stable within the class of solutions which have the same period and the same Floquet exponent as the original wave. Next, we consider general bounded perturbations and focus on spectral stability. We show that the small amplitude traveling waves are stable in the defocusing case, but unstable in the focusing case. The instability is of side-band type, and therefore cannot be detected in the periodic set-up used for the analysis of orbital stability.     

A convergence result for the periodic unfolding method related to fast diffusion on manifolds

Based on the periodic unfolding method in periodic homogenization, we deduce a convergence result for gradients of functions defined on connected, smooth, and periodic manifolds. Under the assumption of certain a-priori estimates of the gradient, which are typical for fast diffusion, the sum of a term involving a gradient with respect to the slow variable and one with respect to the fast variable is obtained in the homogenization limit. In addition, we show in a brief example how to apply this result and find for a reaction–diffusion equation defined on a periodic manifold that the homogenized equation contains a term describing macroscopic diffusion.     

Modulational Instability in the Whitham Equation for Water Waves

We show that periodic traveling waves with sufficiently small amplitudes of the Whitham equation, which incorporates the dispersion relation of surface water waves and the nonlinearity of the shallow water equations, are spectrally unstable to long‐wavelengths perturbations if the wave number is greater than a critical value, bearing out the Benjamin–Feir instability of Stokes waves; they are spectrally stable to square integrable perturbations otherwise. The proof involves a spectral perturbation of the associated linearized operator with respect to the Floquet exponent and the small‐amplitude parameter. We extend the result to related, nonlinear dispersive equations.     

The Stability Analysis of the Periodic Traveling Wave Solutions of the mKdV Equation

The stability of periodic solutions of partial differential equations has been an area of increasing interest in the last decade. In this paper, we derive all periodic traveling wave solutions of the focusing and defocusing mKdV equations. We show that in the defocusing case all such solutions are orbitally stable with respect to subharmonic perturbations: perturbations that are periodic with period equal to an integer multiple of the period of the underlying solution. We do this by explicitly computing the spectrum and the corresponding eigenfunctions associated with the linear stability problem. Next, we bring into play different members of the mKdV hierarchy. Combining this with the spectral stability results allows for the construction of a Lyapunov function for the periodic traveling waves. Using the seminal results of Grillakis, Shatah, and Strauss, we are able to conclude orbital stability. In the focusing case, we show how instabilities arise.