Spherically symmetric internal layers for activator-inhibitor systems—I. Existence by a Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction

Reaction-diffusion systems of activator-inhibitor type are studied on an N-dimensional ball with the homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. Under the condition that the activator diffuses slowly, reacts rapidly and the inhibitor diffuses rapidly, reacts moderately, we show that the system admits a family of spherically symmetric internal transition layer equilibria. The method of proof consists of rigorous asymptotic expansions and a Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction.     

Existence and stability of weak solutions for a degenerate parabolic system modelling two-phase flows in porous media

We prove global existence of nonnegative weak solutions to a degenerate parabolic system which models the interaction of two thin fluid films in a porous medium. Furthermore, we show that these weak solutions converge at an exponential rate towards flat equilibria.     

Nonlinear stability of periodic traveling wave solutions of systems of viscous conservation laws in the generic case

Extending previous results of Oh-Zumbrun and Johnson-Zumbrun, we show that spectral stability implies linearized and nonlinear stability of spatially periodic traveling wave solutions of viscous systems of conservation laws for systems of generic type, removing a restrictive assumption that wave speed be constant to first order along the manifold of nearby periodic solutions. Key to our analysis is a nonlinear cancellation estimate observed by Johnson and Zumbrun, along with a detailed understanding of the Whitham averaged system. The latter motivates a careful analysis of the Bloch perturbation expansion near zero frequency and suggests factoring out an appropriate translational modulation of the underlying wave, allowing us to derive the sharpened low-frequency estimates needed to close the nonlinear iteration arguments.     

Pullback attractors for asymptotically compact non-autonomous dynamical systems

First, we introduce the concept of pullback asymptotically compact non-autonomous dynamical system as an extension of the similar concept in the autonomous framework. Our definition is different from that of asymptotic compactness already used in the theory of random and non-autonomous dynamical systems (as developed by Crauel, Flandoli, Kloeden, Schmalfuss, amongst others) which means the existence of a (random or time-dependent) family of compact attracting sets. Next, we prove a result ensuring the existence of a pullback attractor for a non-autonomous dynamical system under the general assumptions of pullback asymptotic compactness and the existence of a pullback absorbing family of sets. This attractor is minimal and, in most practical applications, it is unique. Finally, we illustrate the theory with a 2D Navier–Stokes model in an unbounded domain.     

Research announcement an algorithm for numerical calculation of topical degree

The problem of finding a local minimum of a real differentiable function is considered from a homotopic point of view. Using a Davidenko embedding method with a particular homotopy, an ordinary differential equation is derived. Solution of this equation by Euler's rule gives rise to an iteration formula for the optimization problem. Convergence and termination properties of this formula are discussed.     

The uniqueness and asymptotic stability of pyramidal traveling fronts in the Allen-Cahn equations

This paper studies the uniqueness and the asymptotic stability of a pyramidal traveling front in the three-dimensional whole space. For a given admissible pyramid we prove that a pyramidal traveling front is uniquely determined and that it is asymptotically stable under the condition that given perturbations decay at infinity. For this purpose we characterize the pyramidal traveling front as a combination of planar fronts on the lateral surfaces. Moreover we characterize the pyramidal traveling front in another way, that is, we write it as a combination of two-dimensional V-form waves on the edges. This characterization also uniquely determines a pyramidal traveling front.     

Pullback attractors for closed cocycles

In this article, using a result of Pata and Zelik (2007) [45], we derive a general result on the existence of pullback attractors for closed cocycles acting on a Banach space, where the strong continuity is replaced by a much weaker requirement that the cocycle be a closed map. As application, we prove the existence of the pullback attractor of a cocycle associated with the z-weak solutions of a non-autonomous two-dimensional primitive equations of the ocean.     

A parabolic variational inequality arising from the valuation of strike reset options

A strike reset option is an option that allows its holder to reset the strike price to the prevailing underlying asset price at a moment chosen by the holder. The pricing model of the option can be formulated as a one-dimensional parabolic variational inequality, or equivalently, a free boundary problem, where the free boundary just corresponds to the optimal reset strategy adopted by the holder of the option. This paper is concerned with the theoretical analysis of the model. The existence and uniqueness of the solution are established. Furthermore, we study properties of the free boundary. The monotonicity and C^∞ smoothness of the free boundary are proven in some situations.     

On the Cauchy problem for the two-component Euler–Poincaré equations

In the paper, we first use the energy method to establish the local well-posedness as well as blow-up criteria for the Cauchy problem on the two-component Euler–Poincaré equations in multi-dimensional space. In the case of dimensions 2 and 3, we show that for a large class of smooth initial data with some concentration property, the corresponding solutions blow up in finite time by using Constantin–Escher Lemma and Littlewood–Paley decomposition theory. Then for the one-component case, a more precise blow-up estimate and a global existence result are also established by using similar methods. Next, we investigate the zero density limit and the zero dispersion limit. At the end, we also briefly demonstrate a Liouville type theorem for the stationary weak solution.     

A free boundary problem modeling the cell cycle and cell movement in multicellular tumor spheroids

This paper deals with a mathematical model describing the cell cycle dynamics and chemotactic driven cell movement in a multicellular tumor spheroid. Tumor cells consist of two types of cells: proliferating cells and quiescent cells, which have different chemotactic responses to an extracellular nutrient supply. The model is a free boundary problem for a nonlinear system of reaction-diffusion-advection equations, where the free boundary is the outer boundary of the spheroid. The free boundary condition is quite novel due to different velocity of two types of cells. The global existence and uniqueness of solutions to the model is proved. The proof is based on a fixed point argument, together with the Lp-theory for parabolic equations with the third boundary condition.     

On a phase-change problem arising from inductive heating

In this paper we study a phase-change problem arising from induction heating. The mathematical model consists of time-harmonic Maxwell’s system in a quasi-stationary field coupled with nonlinear heat conduction. The enthalpy form is used to characterize the phase-change in the material. It is shown that the problem has a global solution. Moreover, it is shown that the solution is unique and regular in one-space dimension even with an unbounded resistivity. This work is supported in part by a NSF grant: DMS-0102261     

Homogenization of singular numbers for a non self-adjoint elliptic problem in a perforated domain

We consider the spectral problem for a non self-adjoint Dirichlet problem for a higher-order elliptic operator in a sequence of perforated domains. We establish the convergence of the singular numbers generated by the problem to the corresponding singular numbers generated by a limit problem of the same type but containing an additional term of capacity type.Research supported by the National Research Foundation of South Africa.     

Stability of a Generalized Sobolev System

The linear stability problem of the rotational motion of a rigid body around a fixed point containing an inner cavity filled up with an ideal fluid is considered. In this paper, we also assume that the fluid is rotating. The effect of the angular velocities of the rigid body and the fluid in the stability problem is studied. The case of a cavity ellipsoidal is presented in detail.     

A PDE PROBLEM ARISING FROM CALCULATION OF THE MODEL FOR CONTINUOUS CASTING OF STEEL

This paper deals with the relationship between a certain three-dimensional elliptic problem and a two-dimensional parabolic problem, which arises from numerical calculation in the process of the continuous casting of steel.     

Remarks on an overdetermined boundary value problem

We modify and extend proofs of Serrin’s symmetry result for overdetermined boundary value problems from the Laplace-operator to a general quasilinear operator and remove a strong ellipticity assumption in Philippin (Maximum principles and eigenvalue problems in partial differential equations (Knoxville, TN, 1987), Longman Sci. Tech., Pitman Res. Notes Math. Ser., Harlow, 175, pp. 34–48, 1988) and a growth assumption in Garofalo and Lewis (A symmetry result related to some overdetermined boundary value problems, Am. J. Math. 111, 9–33, 1989) on the diffusion coefficient A, as well as a starshapedness assumption on Ω in Fragalà et al. (Overdetermined boundary value problems with possibly degenerate ellipticity: a geometric approach. Math. Zeitschr. 254, 117–132, 2006).     

Spatial problem of Darboux type for one model equation of third order

For a hyperbolic type model equation of third order a Darboux type problem is investigated in a dihedral angle. It is shown that there exists a real number ₀ such that for > ₀ the problem under consideration is uniquelly solvable in the Frechet space. In the case where the coefficients are constants, Bochner's method is developed in multidimensional domains, and used to prove the uniquely solvability of the problem both in Frechet and in Banach spaces.     

On the shock wave spectrum for isentropic gas dynamics with capillarity

We consider the stability problem for shock layers in Slemrod's model of an isentropic gas with capillarity. We show that these traveling waves are monotone in the weak capillarity case, and become highly oscillatory as the capillarity strength increases. Using a spectral energy estimate we prove that small-amplitude monotone shocks are spectrally stable. We also show that monotone shocks have no unstable real spectrum regardless of amplitude; this implies that any instabilities of these monotone traveling waves, if they exist, must occur through a Hopf-like bifurcation, where one or more conjugate pairs of eigenvalues cross the imaginary axis. We then conduct a systematic numerical Evans function study, which shows that monotone and mildly oscillatory profiles in an adiabatic gas are spectrally stable for moderate values of shock and capillarity strengths. In particular, we show that the transition from monotone to nonmonotone profiles does not appear to trigger any instabilities.     

Bifurcation for a free boundary problem modeling the growth of multi-layer tumors

In this paper we study bifurcations for a free boundary problem modeling the growth of multi-layer tumors under the action of inhibitors. An important feature of this problem is that the surface tension effect of the free boundary is taken into account. By reducing this problem into an abstract bifurcation equation in a Banach space, overcoming some technical difficulties and finally using the Crandall–Rabinowitz bifurcation theorem, we prove that this problem has infinitely many branches of bifurcation solutions bifurcating from the flat solution.     

Front propagation in infinite cylinders. II. The sharp reaction zone limit

This paper applies the variational approach developed in part I of this work [22] to a singular limit of reaction–diffusion–advection equations which arise in combustion modeling. We first establish existence, uniqueness, monotonicity, asymptotic decay, and the associated free boundary problem for special traveling wave solutions which are minimizers of the considered variational problem in the singular limit. We then show that the speed of the minimizers of the approximating problems converges to the speed of the minimizer of the singular limit. Also, after an appropriate translation the minimizers of the approximating problems converge strongly on compacts to the minimizer of the singular limit. In addition, we obtain matching upper and lower bounds for the speed of the minimizers in the singular limit in terms of a certain area-type functional for small curvatures of the free boundary. The conclusions of the analysis are illustrated by a number of numerical examples.