Effect of a protection zone in the diffusive Leslie predator-prey model

In this paper, we consider the diffusive Leslie predator-prey model with large intrinsic predator growth rate, and investigate the change of behavior of the model when a simple protection zone Ω₀ for the prey is introduced. As in earlier work [Y. Du, J. Shi, A diffusive predator-prey model with a protection zone, J. Differential Equations 229 (2006) 63-91; Y. Du, X. Liang, A diffusive competition model with a protection zone, J. Differential Equations 244 (2008) 61-86] we show the existence of a critical patch size of the protection zone, determined by the first Dirichlet eigenvalue of the Laplacian over Ω₀ and the intrinsic growth rate of the prey, so that there is fundamental change of the dynamical behavior of the model only when Ω₀ is above the critical patch size. However, our research here reveals significant difference of the model's behavior from the predator-prey model studied in [Y. Du, J. Shi, A diffusive predator-prey model with a protection zone, J. Differential Equations 229 (2006) 63-91] with the same kind of protection zone. We show that the asymptotic profile of the population distribution of the Leslie model is governed by a standard boundary blow-up problem, and classical or degenerate logistic equations.     

Exterior problems in the half-space for the Laplace operator in weighted Sobolev spaces

The purpose of this work is to solve exterior problems in the half-space for the Laplace operator. We give existence and unicity results in weighted Lp's theory with 1<p<∞. This paper extends the studies done in [C. Amrouche, V. Girault, J. Giroire, Dirichlet and Neumann exterior problems for the n-dimensional Laplace operator, an approach in weighted Sobolev spaces, J. Math. Pures Appl. 76 (1) (1997) 55-81] with Dirichlet and Neumann conditions.     

Existence of solutions for a nonlinear PDE with an inverse square potential

Via Linking theorem and delicate energy estimates, the existence of nontrivial solutions for a nonlinear PDE with an inverse square potential and critical sobolev exponent is proved. This result gives a partial (positive) answer to an open problem proposed in Ferrero and Gazzola (J. Differential Equations 177 (2001) 494).     

Uniqueness and exact multiplicity of solutions for a class of Dirichlet problems

We apply the “monotone separation of graphs” technique of L.A. Peletier and J. Serrin [L.A. Peletier, J. Serrin, Uniqueness of positive solutions of semilinear equations in Rn, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 81 (2) (1983) 181-197; L.A. Peletier, J. Serrin, Uniqueness of nonnegative solutions of semilinear equations in Rn, J. Differential Equations 61 (3) (1986) 380-397], as developed further by L. Erbe and M. Tang [L. Erbe, M. Tang, Structure of positive radial solutions of semilinear elliptic equations, J. Differential Equations 133 (2) (1997) 179-202], to the question of exact multiplicity of positive solutions for a class of semilinear equations on a unit ball in Rn. We also observe that using P. Pucci and J. Serrin [P. Pucci, J. Serrin, Uniqueness of ground states for quasilinear elliptic operators, Indiana Univ. Math. J. 47 (2) (1998) 501-528] improvement of a certain identity of L. Erbe and M. Tang [L. Erbe, M. Tang, Structure of positive radial solutions of semilinear elliptic equations, J. Differential Equations 133 (2) (1997) 179-202] produces a short proof of L. Erbe and M. Tang [L. Erbe, M. Tang, Structure of positive radial solutions of semilinear elliptic equations, J. Differential Equations 133 (2) (1997) 179-202] result on the uniqueness of positive solution of (1<p, )

     

A bifurcation problem governed by the boundary condition I

We deal with positive solutions of Δu = a(x)u ^p in a bounded smooth domain subject to the boundary condition ∂u/∂v = λu, λ a parameter, p > 1. We prove that this problem has a unique positive solution if and only if 0 < λ < σ₁ where, roughly speaking, σ₁ is finite if and only if |∂Ω ∩ {a = 0}| > 0 and coincides with the first eigenvalue of an associated eigenvalue problem. Moreover, we find the limit profile of the solution as λ → σ₁. Supported by DGES and FEDER under grant BFM2001-3894 (J. García-Melián and J. Sabina) and ANPCyT PICT No. 03-05009 (J. D. Rossi). J.D. Rossi is a member of CONICET.     

Gradient regularity for elliptic equations in the Heisenberg group

We give dimension-free regularity conditions for a class of possibly degenerate sub-elliptic equations in the Heisenberg group exhibiting super-quadratic growth in the horizontal gradient; this solves an issue raised in [J.J. Manfredi, G. Mingione, Regularity results for quasilinear elliptic equations in the Heisenberg group, Math. Ann. 339 (2007) 485-544], where only dimension dependent bounds for the growth exponent are given. We also obtain explicit a priori local regularity estimates, and cover the case of the horizontal p-Laplacean operator, extending some regularity proven in [A. Domokos, J.J. Manfredi, C1,α-regularity for p-harmonic functions in the Heisenberg group for p near 2, in: Contemp. Math., vol. 370, 2005, pp. 17-23]. In turn, using some recent techniques of Caffarelli and Peral [L. Caffarelli, I. Peral, On W1,p estimates for elliptic equations in divergence form, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 51 (1998) 1-21], the a priori estimates found are shown to imply the suitable local Calderón-Zygmund theory for the related class of non-homogeneous, possibly degenerate equations involving discontinuous coefficients. These last results extend to the sub-elliptic setting a few classical non-linear Euclidean results [T. Iwaniec, Projections onto gradient fields and Lp-estimates for degenerated elliptic operators, Studia Math. 75 (1983) 293-312; E. DiBenedetto, J.J. Manfredi, On the higher integrability of the gradient of weak solutions of certain degenerate elliptic systems, Amer. J. Math. 115 (1993) 1107-1134], and to the non-linear case estimates of the same nature that were available in the sub-elliptic setting only for solutions to linear equations.     

Single-point condensation phenomena for a four-dimensional biharmonic Ren–Wei problem

We continue to study the asymptotic behavior of least energy solutions to the following fourth order elliptic problem (E _p ): as p gets large, where Ω is a smooth bounded domain in R ⁴ . In our earlier paper (Takahashi in Osaka J. Math., 2006), we have shown that the least energy solutions remain bounded uniformly in p and they have one or two “peaks” away form the boundary. In this note, following the arguments in Adimurthi and Grossi (Proc. AMS 132(4):1013–1019, 2003) and Lin and Wei (Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 56:784–809, 2003), we will obtain more sharper estimates of the upper bound of the least energy solutions and prove that the least energy solutions must develop single-point spiky pattern, under the assumption that the domain is convex.     

On nontrivial solutions of critical polyharmonic elliptic systems

In the present work, we consider elliptic systems involving polyharmonic operators and critical exponents. We discuss the existence and nonexistence of nontrivial solutions to these systems. Our theorems improve and/or extend the ones established by Bartsch and Guo [T. Bartsch, Y. Guo, Existence and nonexistence results for critical growth polyharmonic elliptic systems, J. Differential Equations 220 (2006) 531-543] in both aspects of spectral interaction and regularity of lower order perturbations.     

Concentration of solutions for some singularly perturbed mixed problems: Asymptotics of minimal energy solutions

In this paper we carry on the study of asymptotic behavior of some solutions to a singularly perturbed problem with mixed Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, started in the first paper [J. Garcia Azorero, A. Malchiodi, L. Montoro, I. Peral, Concentration of solutions for some singularly perturbed mixed problems: Existence results, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal., in press]. Here we are mainly interested in the analysis of the location and shape of least energy solutions when the singular perturbation parameter tends to zero. We show that in many cases they coincide with the new solutions produced in [J. Garcia Azorero, A. Malchiodi, L. Montoro, I. Peral, Concentration of solutions for some singularly perturbed mixed problems: Existence results, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal., in press].     

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).     

Bubble towers for supercritical semilinear elliptic equations

We construct positive solutions of the semilinear elliptic problem with Dirichet boundary conditions, in a bounded smooth domain Ω⊂R^N(N?4), when the exponent p is supercritical and close enough to and the parameter λ∈R is small enough. As , the solutions have multiple blow up at finitely many points which are the critical points of a function whose definition involves Green's function. Our result extends the result of Del Pino et al. (J. Differential Equations 193(2) (2003) 280) when Ω is a ball and the solutions are radially symmetric.     

Uniqueness and asymptotic behavior of coexistence states for a non-cooperative model of nuclear reactors

In this paper, we analyze the asymptotic behavior of coexistence states for a non-cooperative model of nuclear reactors. In addition, we also present some remarks on the uniqueness of coexistence states in a high dimensional case. Our results complement the work of López-Gómez [J. López-Gómez, The steady states of a non-cooperative model of nuclear reactors, J. Differential Equations 246 (2009), 358-372].     

Optimal uniqueness theorems and exact blow-up rates of large solutions

In this paper, we prove some optimal uniqueness results for large solutions of a canonical class of semilinear equations under minimal regularity conditions on the weight function in front of the non-linearity and combine these results with the localization method introduced in [López-Gómez, The boundary blow-up rate of large solutions, J. Differential Equations 195 (2003) 25-45] to prove that any large solution L of Δu=a(x)u^p, p>1, a>0, must satisfy

     

The obstacle problem for nonlinear elliptic equations with variable growth and <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Superscript>1</Superscript>-data

The aim of this paper is twofold: to prove, for L ¹-data, the existence and uniqueness of an entropy solution to the obstacle problem for nonlinear elliptic equations with variable growth, and to show some convergence and stability properties of the corresponding coincidence set. The latter follow from extending the Lewy-Stampacchia inequalities to the general framework of L ¹. Current address: Manel Sanchón, Universitat de Barcelona, Departament de Matemàtica Aplicada i Anàlisi, Gran Via 585, 08007 Barcelona, Spain; e-mail: msanchon@maia.ub.es Authors’ addresses: J. F. Rodrigues, CMUC, Department of Mathematics, University of Coimbra, and FCUL/Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Gama Pinto 2, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal; M. Sanchón and J. M. Urbano, CMUC, Department of Mathematics, University of Coimbra, 3001-454 Coimbra, Portugal     

Stability of steady-state solutions to a prey-predator system with cross-diffusion

This paper is concerned with a cross-diffusion system arising in a prey-predator population model. The main purpose is to discuss the stability analysis for coexistence steady-state solutions obtained by Kuto and Yamada (J. Differential Equations, to appear). We will give some criteria on the stability of these coexistence steady states. Furthermore, we show that the Hopf bifurcation phenomenon occurs on the steady-state solution branch under some conditions.     

The steady states of a non-cooperative model of nuclear reactors

This paper characterizes the existence of coexistence states in a reaction-diffusion model arising in the theory of nuclear reactors. From a mathematical point of view, the importance of this model relies upon the fact that the associated variational systems are of non-cooperative type and, consequently, the comparison techniques available for cooperative systems fail to work out. Although in higher spatial dimensions the dynamics of the model might be rather involved, by the absence of limitations for the number of steady states, we can prove the uniqueness of the steady state in the one-dimensional prototype model. Our results complement and eventually sharpen the findings of Arioli [G. Arioli, Long term dynamics of a reaction-diffusion system, J. Differential Equations 235 (2007) 298-307].     

Stability of post-fertilization traveling waves

This paper studies the stability of a family of traveling wave solutions to the system proposed by Lane et al. [D.C. Lane, J.D. Murray, V.S. Manoranjan, Analysis of wave phenomena in a morphogenetic mechanochemical model and an application to post-fertilization waves on eggs, IMA J. Math. Appl. Med. Biol. 4 (4) (1987) 309-331], to model a pair of mechanochemical phenomena known as post-fertilization waves on eggs. The waves consist of an elastic deformation pulse on the egg's surface, and a free calcium concentration front. The family is indexed by a coupling parameter measuring contraction stress effects on the calcium concentration. This work establishes the spectral, linear and nonlinear orbital stability of these post-fertilization waves for small values of the coupling parameter. The usual methods for the spectral and evolution equations cannot be applied because of the presence of mixed partial derivatives in the elastic equation. Nonetheless, exponential decay of the directly constructed semigroup on the complement of the zero eigenspace is established. We show that small perturbations of the waves yield solutions to the nonlinear equations decaying exponentially to a phase-modulated traveling wave.     

Splitting lemma in the infinity and a strong resonant problem with periodic nonlinearity

In this paper we study the periodic boundary problem: −u^″−u+g(u)=h(t),u(0)=u(2π),u^′(0)=u^′(2π)$-u^{″}-u+g\left(u\right)=h\left(t\right),u\left(0\right)=u\left(2\pi \right),u^{\prime }\left(0\right)=u^{\prime }\left(2\pi \right)$ with periodic nonlinearity g$g$. We proved that the problem has infinite solutions. The method we used is a variational reduction method of T. Bartsch and S.J. Li.     

Application of variational inequalities to the moving-boundary problem in a fluid model for biofilm growth

We consider a moving-boundary problem associated with the fluid model for biofilm growth proposed by J. Dockery and I. Klapper, Finger formation in biofilm layers, SIAM J. Appl. Math. 62 (3) (2001) 853–869. Notions of classical, weak, and variational solutions for this problem are introduced. Classical solutions with radial symmetry are constructed, and estimates for their growth given. Using a weighted Baiocchi transform, the problem is reformulated as a family of variational inequalities, allowing us to show that, for any initial biofilm configuration at time t=0$t=0$ (any bounded open set), there exists a unique weak solution defined for all t≥0$t\ge 0$.