Boundary characteristic point regularity for semilinear reaction-diffusion equations: towards an ode criterion

The classical problem of regularity of boundary characteristic points for semilinear heat equations with homogeneous Dirichlet conditions is considered. The Petrovskii ( 2?{loglog} ) \left( {2\sqrt {{\log \log }} } \right) criterion (1934) of the boundary regularity for the heat equation can be adapted to classes of semilinear parabolic equations of reaction–diffusion type and takes the form of an ordinary differential equation (ODE) regularity criterion. Namely, after a special matching with a boundary layer, the regularity problem reduces to a onedimensional perturbed nonlinear dynamical system for the first Fourier-like coefficient of the solution in an inner region. A similar ODE criterion, with an analogous matching procedures, is shown formally to exist for semilinear fourth order biharmonic equations of reaction-diffusion type. Extensions to regularity problems of backward paraboloid vertices in \mathbbR^N {\mathbb{R}^N} are discussed. Bibliography: 54 titles. Illustrations: 1 figure.