Bifurcation from stability to instability for a free boundary problem modeling tumor growth by Stokes equation

We consider a free boundary problem modeling tumor growth in fluid-like tissue. The model equations include a diffusion equation for the nutrient concentration, and the Stokes equation with a source which represents the proliferation of tumor cells. The proliferation rate μ and the cell-to-cell adhesiveness γ which keeps the tumor intact are two parameters which characterize the “aggressiveness” of the tumor. For any positive radius R there exists a unique radially symmetric stationary solution with radius r=R. For a sequence μ/γ=Mn(R) there exist symmetry-breaking bifurcation branches of solutions with free boundary r=R+εYn,0(θ)+O(ε²) (n even ?2) for small |ε|, where Yn,0 is the spherical harmonic of mode (n,0). Furthermore, the smallest Mn(R), say Mn_∗(R), is such that n_∗=n_∗(R)→∞ as R→∞. In this paper we prove that the radially symmetric stationary solution with R=RS is linearly stable if μ/γ<N_∗(RS,γ) and linearly unstable if μ/γ>N_∗(RS,γ), where N_∗(RS,γ)?Mn_∗(RS), and we prove that strict inequality holds if γ is small or if γ is large. The biological implications of these results are discussed at the end of the paper.     

Asymptotic stability for a free boundary problem arising in a tumor model

We consider a tumor model in which all cells are proliferating at a rate μ and their density is proportional to the nutrient concentration. The model consists of a coupled system of an elliptic equation and a parabolic equation, with the tumor boundary as a free boundary. It is known that for an appropriate choice of parameters, there exists a unique spherically symmetric stationary solution with radius RS which is independent of μ. It was recently proved that there is a function μ_∗(RS) such that the spherical stationary solution is linearly stable if μ<μ_∗(RS) and linearly unstable if μ>μ_∗(RS). In this paper we prove that the spherical stationary solution is nonlinearly stable (or, asymptotically stable) if μ<μ_∗(RS).     

Linear stability for a free boundary tumor model with a periodic supply of external nutrients

In this paper, we consider a free boundary tumor model with a periodic supply of external nutrients, so that the nutrient concentration σ satisfies σ = ?(t) on the boundary, where ?(t) is a positive periodic function with period T. A parameter μ in the model is proportional to the “aggressiveness” of the tumor. If , where is a threshold concentration for proliferation, Bai and Xu [Pac J Appl Math. 2013;5;217‐223] proved that there exists a unique radially symmetric T‐periodic positive solution (σ_?(r,t),p_?(r,t),R_?(t)), which is stable for any μ > 0 with respect to all radially symmetric perturbations. 17 We prove that under nonradially symmetric perturbations, there exists a number μ_? such that if 0 < μ < μ_?, then the T‐periodic solution is linearly stable, whereas if μ > μ_?, then the T‐periodic solution is linearly unstable.     

Computing steady-state solutions for a free boundary problem modeling tumor growth by Stokes equation

We consider a free boundary problem modeling tumor growth where the model equations include a diffusion equation for the nutrient concentration and the Stokes equation for the proliferation of tumor cells. For any positive radius R$R$, it is known that there exists a unique radially symmetric stationary solution. The proliferation rate μ$\mu$ and the cell-to-cell adhesiveness γ$\gamma$ are two parameters for characterizing “aggressiveness” of the tumor. We compute symmetry-breaking bifurcation branches of solutions by studying a polynomial discretization of the system. By tracking the discretized system, we numerically verified a sequence of μ/γ$\mu /\gamma$ symmetry breaking bifurcation branches. Furthermore, we study the stability of both radially symmetric and radially asymmetric stationary solutions.     

Asymptotic Behaviour of Solutions of a Multidimensional Moving Boundary Problem Modeling Tumor Growth

We study a moving boundary problem modeling the growth of multicellular spheroids or in vitro tumors. This model consists of two elliptic equations describing the concentration of a nutrient and the distribution of the internal pressure in the tumor's body, respectively. The driving mechanism of the evolution of the tumor surface is governed by Darcy's law. Finally surface tension effects on the moving boundary are taken into account which are considered to counterbalance the internal pressure. To put our analysis on a solid basis, we first state a local well-posedness result for general initial data. However, the main purpose of our study is the investigation of the asymptotic behaviour of solutions as time goes to infinity. As a result of a centre manifold analysis, we prove that if the initial domain is sufficiently close to a Euclidean ball in the C ^m+μ-norm with m ≥ 3 and μ ∈ (0,1), then the solution exists globally and the corresponding domains converge exponentially fast to some (possibly shifted) ball, provided the surface tension coefficient γ is larger than a positive threshold value γ_*. In the case 0 < γ < γ_* the radially symmetric equilibrium is unstable.     

Solutions of elliptic equations with a level surface parallel to the boundary: Stability of the radial configuration

A positive solution of a homogeneous Dirichlet boundary value problem or initial-value problems for certain elliptic or parabolic equations must be radially symmetric and monotone in the radial direction if just one of its level surfaces is parallel to the boundary of the domain. Here, for the elliptic case, we prove the stability counterpart of that result. We show that if the solution is almost constant on a surface at a fixed distance from the boundary, then the domain is almost radially symmetric, in the sense that is contained in and contains two concentric balls \({B_{{r_e}}}\) and \({B_{{r_i}}}\), with the difference r_e-r_i (linearly) controlled by a suitable norm of the deviation of the solution from a constant. The proof relies on and elaborates arguments developed by Aftalion, Busca, and Reichel.     

Existence and non-existence of solutions for a class of Monge-Ampère equations

We study the boundary value problems for Monge-Ampère equations: detD²u=e−u in Ω⊂Rn, n?1, u_|∂Ω=0. First we prove that any solution on the ball is radially symmetric by the argument of moving plane. Then we show there exists a critical radius such that if the radius of a ball is smaller than this critical value there exists a solution, and vice versa. Using the comparison between domains we can prove that this phenomenon occurs for every domain. Finally we consider an equivalent problem with a parameter detD²u=e−tu in Ω, u_|∂Ω=0, t?0. By using Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction method we get the local structure of the solutions near a degenerate point; by Leray-Schauder degree theory, a priori estimate and bifurcation theory we get the global structure.     

Analysis of a Free Boundary Problem Modeling Tumor Growth

In this paper, we study a free boundary problem arising from the modeling of tumor growth. The problem comprises two unknown functions： R = R（t）, the radius of the tumor, and u = u（r, t）, the concentration of nutrient in the tumor. The function u satisfies a nonlinear reaction diffusion equation in the region 0 〈 r 〈 R（t）, t 〉 0, and the function R satisfies a nonlinear integrodifferential equation containing u. Under some general conditions, we establish global existence of transient solutions, unique existence of a stationary solution, and convergence of transient solutions toward the stationary solution as t →∞.     

The heterogeneous Allen-Cahn equation in a ball: Solutions with layers and spikes

Let u? be a single layered radially symmetric unstable solution of the Allen-Cahn equation −?²Δu=u(u−a(|x|))(1−u) over the unit ball with Neumann boundary conditions. Based on our estimate of the small eigenvalues of the linearized eigenvalue problem at u? when ? is small, we construct solutions of the form u?+v?, with v? non-radially symmetric and close to zero in the unit ball except near one point x₀ such that |x₀| is close to a nondegenerate critical point of a(r). Such a solution has a sharp layer as well as a spike.     

Symmetry breaking for a class of semilinear elliptic problems and the bifurcation diagram for a 1-dimensional problem

We study the behaviour of the positive solutions to the Dirichlet problem IR ⁿ in the unit ball in IR ^R wherep<(N+2)/(N−2) ifN≥3 and λ varies over IR. For a special class of functionsg viz.,g(x)=u ₀ ^p (x) whereu ₀ is the unique positive solution at λ=0, we prove that for certain λ’s nonradial solutions bifurcate from radially symmetric positive solutions. WhenN=1, we obtain the complete bifurcation diagram for the positive solution curve.     

Positive solutions to a singular Neumann problem

We show the existence of positive solution for the following class of singular Neumann problem in BR with ∂u/∂ν=0 on ∂BR, where R>0, λ>0 is a positive parameter, β>0, p∈[0,1), BR=BR(0)⊂RN, and are radially symmetric nonnegative C¹ functions. Using variational methods and sub- and supersolutions, we obtain a solution for an approximated problem involving mixed boundary conditions. The limit of the approximated solutions, is a positive solution.     

Morse index of layered solutions to the heterogeneous Allen-Cahn equation

Let u? be a single layered radially symmetric unstable solution of the Allen-Cahn equation −?²Δu=u(u−a(|x|))(1−u) over the unit ball with Neumann boundary conditions. We estimate the small eigenvalues of the linearized eigenvalue problem at u? when ? is small. As a consequence, we prove that the Morse index of u? is asymptotically given by [μ^∗+o(1)]?−(N−1)/2 with μ^∗ a certain positive constant expressed in terms of parameters determined by the Allen-Cahn equation. Our estimates on the small eigenvalues have many other applications. For example, they may be used in the search of other non-radially symmetric solutions, which will be considered in forthcoming papers.     

A local two radii theorem on the Chébli-Trimèche hypergroup

Let 0<r₁<r₂<r₁+r₂<R. It is given a necessary and sufficient condition so that the null function is the unique solution f∈C^∞(]−R,+R[) of the system

(1)     

Analysis of an elliptic-parabolic free boundary problem modelling the growth of non-necrotic tumor cord

We study a free boundary problem modelling the growth of a tumor cord in which tumor cells live around and receive nutrient from a central blood vessel. The evolution of the tumor cord surface is governed by Darcy's law together with a surface tension equation. The concentration of nutrient in the tumor cord satisfies a reaction-diffusion equation. In this paper we first establish a well-posedness result for this free boundary problem in some Sobolev-Besov spaces with low regularity by using the analytic semigroup theory. We next study asymptotic stability of the unique radially symmetric stationary solution. By making delicate spectrum analysis for the linearized problem, we prove that this stationary solution is locally asymptotically stable provided that the constant c representing the ratio between the diffusion time of nutrient and the birth time of new cells is sufficiently small.     

Analysis of a free boundary problem for vascularized tumor growth with a necrotic core and time delays

In this paper a free boundary problem for vascularized tumor growth with a necrotic core and time delays is studied. In the problem, there are two free boundaries, one is the outer boundary of the tumor, the other is the necrotic core boundary inside the tumor. The time delay exists in the process of tumor growth and represents the time required for tumor cell division. Sufficient conditions for the existence, uniqueness and stability of the stationary solution to the model are given. The results show that the time delay does not affect the final growth behavior of tumor.     

Block matrices and symmetric perturbations

We prove that if A=[A_ij]∈R^N,N is a block symmetric matrix and y is a solution of a nearby linear system (A+E)y=b, then there exists F=F^T such that y solves a nearby symmetric system (A+F)y=b, if A is symmetric positive definite or the matricial norm μ(A)=(‖A_ij‖₂) is diagonally dominant. Our blockwise analysis extends existing normwise and componentwise results on preserving symmetric perturbations (cf. [J.R. Bunch, J.W. Demmel, Ch. F. Van Loan, The strong stability of algorithms for solving symmetric linear systems, SIAM J.Matrix Anal. Appl. 10 (4) (1989) 494-499; D. Herceg, N. Kreji?, On the strong componentwise stability and H-matrices, Demonstratio Mathematica 30 (2) (1997) 373-378; A. Smoktunowicz, A note on the strong componentwise stability of algorithms for solving symmetric linear systems, Demonstratio Mathematica 28 (2) (1995) 443-448]).     

Construction of a Jacobi matrix from spectral data

A proof is given for the existence and uniqueness of a correspondence between two pairs of sequences {a},{b} and {ω},{μ}, satisfying b_i>0 for i=1,…,n?1 and ω₁<μ₁<?<μ_n?1<ω_n, under which the symmetric Jacobi matrices J(n,a,b) and J(n?1,a,b) have eigenvalues {ω} and {μ} respectively. Here J(m,a,b) is symmetric and tridiagonal with diagonal elements a_i (i=1,…,m) and off diagonal elements b_i (i=1,…,m?1). A new concise proof is given for the known uniqueness result. The existence result is new.     

Global existence of the radially symmetric solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations for the isentropic compressible fluids

We study the isentropic compressible Navier–Stokes equations with radially symmetric data in an annular domain. We first prove the global existence and regularity results on the radially symmetric weak solutions with non‐negative bounded densities. Then we prove the global existence of radially symmetric strong solutions when the initial data ρ₀, u ₀ satisfy the compatibility condition for some radially symmetric g ∈ L². The initial density ρ₀ needs not be positive. We also prove some uniqueness results on the strong solutions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time-periodic solutions of wave equations on ℝ1 and ℝ3

The classical Paiey-Wiener theorem and Hilbert space methods are used to show the existence of time-periodic solutions of the wave equation w_tt?w_rr+λw=h, 0 < r < + ∞, which are radially symmetric and have exponential decay as r → + ∞. This problem is obtained when considering a one-dimensional or three-dimensional problem, and should be thought of as a linearization of a semilinear problem in which the associated linear operator has point spectrum (? ∞, λ). When λ ? 0 there is uniqueness, otherwise there is a non-trivial finite-dimensional null space. Estimates on w, w_t, w_r are obtained, which show that in either case there is a continuous correspondence h → w, where w is a uniquely characterized solution.