Traveling Waves in Spatial SIRS Models

We study traveling wavefront solutions for two reaction–diffusion systems, which are derived respectively as diffusion approximations to two nonlocal spatial SIRS models. These solutions characterize the propagating progress and speed of the spatial spread of underlying epidemic waves. For the first diffusion system, we find a lower bound for wave speeds and prove that the traveling waves exist for all speeds bigger than this bound. For the second diffusion system, we find the minimal wave speed and show that the traveling waves exist for all speeds bigger than or equal to the minimal speed. We further prove the uniqueness (up to translation) of these solutions for sufficiently large wave speeds. The existence of these solutions are proved by a shooting argument combining with LaSalle’s invariance principle, and their uniqueness by a geometric singular perturbation argument.     

Traveling Wave Phenomena in a Kermack–McKendrick SIR Model

We study the existence and nonexistence of traveling waves of a general diffusive Kermack–McKendrick SIR model with standard incidence where the total population is not constant. The three classes, susceptible S, infected I and removed R, are all involved in the traveling wave solutions. We show that the minimum wave speed of traveling waves for the three-dimensional non-monotonic system can be derived from its linearizaion at the initial disease-free equilibrium. The proof in this paper is based on Schauder fixed point theorem and Laplace transform. Our study provides a promising method to deal with high dimensional epidemic models.     

Uniqueness of the Bistable Traveling Wave for Mutualist Species

For a system of reaction–diffusion equations that models the interaction of n mutualist species, the existence of the bistable traveling wave solution has been proved where the nonlinear reaction terms possess a certain type of monotonicity. However the problem of whether there can be two distinct traveling waves remains open. In this paper we use a homotopy approach incorporated with the Liapunov–Schmidt method to show that the bistable traveling wave solution is unique. Our method developed in this paper can also be applied to study the existence and uniqueness of traveling wave solutions for some competition models.     

Traveling Wave Solutions for a Class of One-Dimensional Nonlinear Shallow Water Wave Models

In this paper we consider a class of one-dimensional nonlinear shallow water wave models that support weak solutions. We construct new traveling wave solutions for these models. Moreover, we show that these new traveling wave solutions are stable.     

Traveling Waves in Diffusive Random Media

The current paper is devoted to the study of traveling waves in diffusive random media, including time and/or space recurrent, almost periodic, quasiperiodic, periodic ones as special cases. It first introduces a notion of traveling waves in general random media, which is a natural extension of the classical notion of traveling waves. Roughly speaking, a solution to a diffusive random equation is a traveling wave solution if both its propagating profile and its propagating speed are random variables. Then by adopting such a point of view that traveling wave solutions are limits of certain wave-like solutions, a general existence theory of traveling waves is established. It shows that the existence of a wave-like solution implies the existence of a critical traveling wave solution, which is the traveling wave solution with minimal propagating speed in many cases. When the media is ergodic, some deterministic \hbox{properties} of average propagating profile and average propagating speed of a traveling wave solution are derived. When the media is compact, certain continuity of the propagating profile of a critical traveling wave solution is obtained. Moreover, if the media is almost periodic, then a critical traveling wave solution is almost automorphic and if the media is periodic, then so is a critical traveling wave solution. Applications of the general theory to a bistable media are discussed. The results obtained in the paper generalize many existing ones on traveling waves. AMS Subject Classification: 35K55, 35K57, 35B50     

Stability and Instability of Fourth-Order Solitary Waves

We study ground-state traveling wave solutions of a fourth-order wave equation. We find conditions on the speed of the waves which imply stability and instability of the solitary waves. The analysis depends on the variational characterization of the ground states rather than information about the linearized operator.     

The effects of horizontal singular straight line in a generalized nonlinear Klein–Gordon model equation

In this paper, we investigate bounded traveling waves of the generalized nonlinear Klein–Gordon model equations by using bifurcation theory of planar dynamical systems to study the effects of horizontal singular straight lines in nonlinear wave equations. Besides the well-known smooth traveling wave solutions and the non-smooth ones, four kinds of new bounded singular traveling wave solution are found for the first time. These singular traveling wave solutions are characterized by discontinuous second-order derivatives at some points, even though their first-order derivatives are continuous. Obviously, they are different from the singular traveling wave solutions such as compactons, cuspons, peakons. Their implicit expressions are also studied in this paper. These new interesting singular solutions, which are firstly founded, enrich the results on the traveling wave solutions of nonlinear equations. It is worth mentioning that the nonlinear equations with horizontal singular straight lines may have abundant and interesting new kinds of traveling wave solution.     

On the nonlinear dynamics of the traveling-wave solutions of the Serre system

We numerically study nonlinear phenomena related to the dynamics of traveling wave solutions of the Serre equations including the stability, the persistence, the interactions and the breaking of solitary waves. The numerical method utilizes a high-order finite-element method with smooth, periodic splines in space and explicit Runge–Kutta methods in time. Other forms of solutions such as cnoidal waves and dispersive shock waves are also considered. The differences between solutions of the Serre equations and the Euler equations are also studied.     

Traveling waves in one-dimensional non-linear models of strain-limiting viscoelasticity

In this paper we investigate traveling wave solutions of a non-linear differential equation describing the behaviour of one-dimensional viscoelastic medium with implicit constitutive relations. We focus on a subclass of such models known as the strain-limiting models introduced by Rajagopal. To describe the response of viscoelastic solids we assume a non-linear relationship among the linearized strain, the strain rate and the Cauchy stress. We then concentrate on traveling wave solutions that correspond to the heteroclinic connections between the two constant states. We establish conditions for the existence of such solutions, and find those solutions, explicitly, implicitly or numerically, for various forms of the non-linear constitutive relation.     

Traveling Waves in Porous Media Combustion: Uniqueness of Waves for Small Thermal Diffusivity

We study traveling wave solutions arising in Sivashinsky’s model of subsonic detonation which describes combustion processes in inert porous media. Subsonic (shockless) detonation waves tend to assume the form of a reaction front propagating with a well defined speed. It is known that traveling waves exist for any value of thermal diffusivity [5]. Moreover, it has been shown that, when the thermal diffusivity is neglected, the traveling wave is unique. The question of whether the wave is unique in the presence of thermal diffusivity has remained open. For the subsonic regime, the underlying physics might suggest that the effect of small thermal diffusivity is insignificant. We analytically prove the uniqueness of the wave in the presence of non-zero diffusivity through applying geometric singular perturbation theory. Dedicated to Mr. Brunovsky in honor of his 70th birthday.     

Weak Solutions of a Generalized Boussinesq System

We study the convergence of homoclinic orbits and heteroclinic orbits in the dynamical system governing traveling wave solutions of a perturbed Boussinesq systems modeling two-directional propagation of water waves. Nonanalytic weak solutions are found to be limits of these orbits, including compactons, peakons, and rampons, as well as infinitely many mesaons occurring at the same fixed point in the dynamical system. Singularities of solitary wave solutions in the system are also studied to understand the important impact of both linear and nonlinear dispersion terms on the regularity of these solutions.     

The role of spinodal region in the kinetics of lattice phase transitions

We consider a one-dimensional chain of phase-transforming springs with harmonic long-range interactions. The nearest-neighbor interactions are assumed to be trilinear, with a spinodal region separating two material phases. We derive the traveling wave solutions governing the motion of an isolated phase boundary through the chain and obtain the functional relation between the driving force and the velocity of a phase boundary which can be used as the closing kinetic relation for the classical continuum theory. We show that a sufficiently wide spinodal region substantially alters the phase boundary kinetics at low velocities and results in a richer solution structure, with phase boundaries emitting short-length lattice waves in both direction. Numerical simulations suggest that solutions of the Riemann problem for the discrete system converge to the obtained traveling waves near the phase boundary.     

On the traveling waves governed by the Camassa–Holm equation

The Camassa–Holm equation admits undistorted traveling waves that are either smooth or exhibit peaks or cusps. All three wave types can be periodic or solitary. Also waves of different types may be combined. In the present paper it is shown that, apart from peaks and cusps, the traveling waves governed by the Camassa–Holm equation can be found from some simpler equation. In the case of peaked solutions, this reduced equation is even linear. The governing equation of traveling waves in its original form can be interpreted as a nonlinear combination of the reduced equation and its first integral. For a small range of the integration constant, the reduced equation admits bounded solutions, which then are directly inherited by the Camassa–Holm equation. In general, the solutions of the reduced equation are unbounded and cannot be considered to represent traveling waves. The full equation, however, has a nonlinearity in the highest derivative, which is characteristic for the Camassa–Holm and some other equations. This nonlinear term offers the possibility of constructing bounded traveling waves from the unbounded solutions of the reduced equation. These waves necessarily have discontinuities in the slope and are, therefore, solutions only in a generalized sense.     

Existence of Traveling Waves of Invasion for Ginzburg–Landau-type Problems in Infinite Cylinders

We study a class of systems of reaction–diffusion equations in infinite cylinders which arise within the context of Ginzburg–Landau theories and describe the kinetics of phase transformation in second-order or weakly first-order phase transitions with non-conserved order parameters. We use a variational characterization to study the existence of a special class of traveling wave solutions which are characterized by a fast exponential decay in the direction of propagation. Our main result is a simple verifiable criterion for existence of these traveling waves under the very general assumptions of non-linearities. We also prove boundedness, regularity, and some other properties of the obtained solutions, as well as several sufficient conditions for existence or non-existence of such traveling waves, and give rigorous upper and lower bounds for their speed. In addition, we prove that the speed of the obtained solutions gives a sharp upper bound for the propagation speed of a class of disturbances which are initially sufficiently localized. We give a sample application of our results using a computer-assisted approach.     

Time Periodic Traveling Waves for a Periodic and Diffusive SIR Epidemic Model

In this paper, we study the time periodic traveling wave solutions for a periodic SIR epidemic model with diffusion and standard incidence. We establish the existence of periodic traveling waves by investigating the fixed points of a nonlinear operator defined on an appropriate set of periodic functions. Then we prove the nonexistence of periodic traveling via the comparison arguments combined with the properties of the spreading speed of an associated subsystem.     

Bifurcations and exact solutions of an asymptotic rotation-Camassa–Holm equation

This paper investigates the rotation-Camassa–Holm equation, which appears in long-crested shallow-water waves propagating in the equatorial ocean regions with the Coriolis effect due to the earth’s rotation. The rotation-Camassa–Holm equation contains the famous Camassa–Holm equation and is a special case of the generalized Camassa–Holm equation. By using the approach of dynamical systems and singular traveling wave theory to its traveling wave system, in different parameter conditions of the five-parameter space, the bifurcations of phase portraits are studied. Some exact explicit parametric representations of the smooth solitary wave solutions, periodic wave solutions, peakons and anti-peakons, periodic peakons as well as compacton solutions are obtained.

     

Traveling Waves for a Biological Reaction-Diffusion Model

We investigate the existence of traveling wave solutions for a system of reaction–diffusion equations that has been used as a model for microbial growth in a flow reactor and for the diffusive epidemic population. The existence of traveling waves was conjectured early but only has been proved recently for sufficiently small diffusion coefficient by the singular perturbation technique. In this paper we show the existence of traveling waves for an arbitrary diffusion coefficient. Our approach is a shooting method with the aid of an appropriately constructed Liapunov function.Dedicated to Professor Shui-Nee Chow on the occasion of his 60th birthday.Wenzhang Huang-Research was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0204676.     

WAVE INTERACTIONS IN SULICIU MODEL FOR DYNAMIC PHASE TRANSITIONS

Elementary waves in Suliciu model for dynamic phase transitions are obtained through traveling wave analysis.For any given initial data with two pieces of constant states,the Riemann solutions are constructed as a combination of elementary waves. When the initial profile contains three pieces of constant states,the solution may be constructed from the Riemann solutions,with each two adjacent states connected by elementary waves.A new Riemann problem forms when these two waves collide.Through the exploration of these Riemann problems,the outcome of wave interactions may be classified in a suitable parametric space.     

Shocks versus kinks in a discrete model of displacive phase transitions

We consider dynamics of phase boundaries in a bistable one-dimensional lattice with harmonic long-range interactions. Using Fourier transform and Wiener–Hopf technique, we construct traveling wave solutions that represent both subsonic phase boundaries (kinks) and intersonic ones (shocks). We derive the kinetic relation for kinks that provides a needed closure for the continuum theory. We show that the different structure of the roots of the dispersion relation in the case of shocks introduces an additional free parameter in these solutions, which thus do not require a kinetic relation on the macroscopic level. The case of ferromagnetic second-neighbor interactions is analyzed in detail. We show that the model parameters have a significant effect on the existence, structure, and stability of the traveling waves, as well as their behavior near the sonic limit.     

Solitary waves for a nonlinear dispersive long wave equation

All the possible traveling wave solutions of Whitham-Broer-Kaup （WBK） equation are investigated in the present paper. By employing phase plane analysis, transition boundaries are derived to divide the parameter space into several regions associated with different types of phase portraits corresponding to different forms of wave solutions. All the exact expressions of bounded wave solutions are obtained as well as their existence conditions. The mechanism of bifurcation between different waves with varying Hamiltonian value has been revealed. It is pointed out that as the periods of two coexisted periodic waves tend to infinity, they may evolve to two solitary waves. Furthermore, when their trajectories pass through the common saddle point, the two solitary waves may merge into a periodic wave, and its amplitude is nearly equal to the sum of the amplitudes of the two solitary wave solutions.