On the stability or instability of the singular solution of the semilinear heat equation with exponential reaction term

We study questions of existence, uniqueness and asymptotic behaviour for the solutions of u(x, t) of the problem $$\begin{gathered} {\text{ }}u_t - \Delta u = \lambda e^u ,{\text{ }}\lambda {\text{ > 0, }}t > 0,{\text{ }}x{\text{ }}\varepsilon B, \hfill \\ (P){\text{ }}u(x,0) = u_0 (x),{\text{ }}x{\text{ }}\varepsilon B, \hfill \\ {\text{ }}u(x,t) = 0{\text{ }}on{\text{ }}\partial B \times (0,\infty ), \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ where B is the unit ball $\{ x\varepsilon R^N :|x|{\text{ }} \leqq {\text{ }}1\} {\text{ and }}N \geqq 3$ . Our interest is focused on the parameter λ ₀=2(N?2) for which (P) admits a singular stationary solution of the form $$S(x) = - 2log|x|$$ . We study the dynamical stability or instability of S, which depends on the dimension. In particular, there exists a minimal bounded stationary solution u which is stable if $3 \leqq N \leqq 9$ , while S is unstable. For $N \geqq 10$ there is no bounded minimal solution and S is an attractor from below but not from above. In fact, solutions larger than S cannot exist in any time interval (there is instantaneous blow-up), and this happens for all dimensions.     

A well posed problem in singular Fickian diffusion

We prove that the problem of solving $$u_t = (u^{m - 1} u_x )_x {\text{ for }} - 1< m \leqq 0$$ with initial conditionu(x, 0)=φ(x) and flux conditions at infinity \(\mathop {\lim }\limits_{x \to \infty } u^{m - 1} u_x = - f(t),\mathop {\lim }\limits_{x \to - \infty } u^{m - 1} u_x = g(t)\) , admits a unique solution \(u \in C^\infty \{ - \infty< x< \infty ,0< t< T\} \) for every φεL¹(R), φ≧0, φ≡0 and every pair of nonnegative flux functionsf, g ε L _loc ^∞ [0, ∞) The maximal existence time is given by $$T = \sup \left\{ {t:\smallint \phi (x)dx > \int\limits_0^t {[f} (s) + g(s)]ds} \right\}$$ This mixed problem is ill posed for anym outside the above specified range.     

Regularization of Point Vortices Pairs for the Euler Equation in Dimension Two

In this paper, we construct stationary classical solutions of the incompressible Euler equation approximating singular stationary solutions of this equation. This procedure is carried out by constructing solutions to the following elliptic problem $$\left\{\begin{array}{l@{\quad}l} -\varepsilon^2 \Delta u = \sum\limits_{i=1}^m \chi_{\Omega_i^{+}} \left(u - q - \frac{\kappa_i^{+}}{2\pi} {\rm ln} \frac{1}{\varepsilon}\right)_+^p\\ \quad - \sum_{j=1}^n \chi_{\Omega_j^{-}} \left(q - \frac{\kappa_j^{-}}{2\pi} {\rm \ln} \frac{1}{\varepsilon} - u\right)_+^p , \quad \quad x \in \Omega,\\ u = 0, \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad x \in \partial \Omega,\end{array}\right.$$ where p > 1, ${\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^2}$ is a bounded domain, ${\Omega_i^{+}}$ and ${\Omega_j^{-}}$ are mutually disjoint subdomains of Ω and ${\chi_{\Omega_i^{+}} ({\rm resp}.\; \chi_{\Omega_j^{-}})}$ are characteristic functions of ${\Omega_i^{+}({\rm resp}. \;\Omega_j^{-}})$ , q is a harmonic function. We show that if Ω is a simply-connected smooth domain, then for any given C ¹-stable critical point of Kirchhoff–Routh function ${\mathcal{W}\;(x_1^{+},\ldots, x_m^{+}, x_1^{-}, \ldots, x_n^{-})}$ with ${\kappa^{+}_i > 0\,(i = 1,\ldots, m)}$ and ${\kappa^{-}_j > 0\,(j = 1,\ldots,n)}$ , there is a stationary classical solution approximating stationary m + n points vortex solution of incompressible Euler equations with total vorticity ${\sum_{i=1}^m \kappa^{+}_i -\sum_{j=1}^n \kappa_j^{-}}$ . The case that n = 0 can be dealt with in the same way as well by taking each ${\Omega_j^{-}}$ as an empty set and set ${\chi_{\Omega_j^{-}} \equiv 0,\,\kappa^{-}_j=0}$ .     

Regularity and Asymptotic Behavior of Nonlinear Stefan Problems

We study the following nonlinear Stefan problem $$\left\{\begin{aligned}\!\!&u_t\,-\,d\Delta u = g(u) & &\quad{\rm for}\,x\,\in\,\Omega(t), t > 0, \\ & u = 0 \, {\rm and} u_t = \mu|\nabla_{x} u|^{2} &&\quad {\rm for}\,x\,\in\,\Gamma(t), t > 0, \\ &u(0, x) = u_{0}(x) &&\quad {\rm for}\,x\,\in\,\Omega_0,\end{aligned} \right.$$ where ${\Omega(t) \subset \mathbb{R}^{n}}$ ( ${n \geqq 2}$ ) is bounded by the free boundary ${\Gamma(t)}$ , with ${\Omega(0) = \Omega_0}$ , μ and d are given positive constants. The initial function u ₀ is positive in ${\Omega_0}$ and vanishes on ${\partial \Omega_0}$ . The class of nonlinear functions g(u) includes the standard monostable, bistable and combustion type nonlinearities. We show that the free boundary ${\Gamma(t)}$ is smooth outside the closed convex hull of ${\Omega_0}$ , and as ${t \to \infty}$ , either ${\Omega(t)}$ expands to the entire ${\mathbb{R}^n}$ , or it stays bounded. Moreover, in the former case, ${\Gamma(t)}$ converges to the unit sphere when normalized, and in the latter case, ${u \to 0}$ uniformly. When ${g(u) = au - bu^2}$ , we further prove that in the case ${\Omega(t)}$ expands to ${{\mathbb R}^n}$ , ${u \to a/b}$ as ${t \to \infty}$ , and the spreading speed of the free boundary converges to a positive constant; moreover, there exists ${\mu^* \geqq 0}$ such that ${\Omega(t)}$ expands to ${{\mathbb{R}}^n}$ exactly when ${\mu > \mu^*}$ .     

Finite-dimensional asymptotic behavior of some semilinear damped hyperbolic problems

We prove that the solution semigroup $$S_t \left[ {u_0 ,v_0 } \right] = \left[ {u(t),u_t (t)} \right]$$ generated by the evolutionary problem $$\left\{ P \right\}\left\{ \begin{gathered} u_{tt} + g(u_t ) + Lu + f(u) = 0, t \geqslant 0 \hfill \\ u(0) = u_0 , u_t (0) = \upsilon _0 \hfill \\ \end{gathered} \right.$$ possesses a global attractorA in the energy spaceE _o=V×L ²(Ω). Moreover,A is contained in a finite-dimensional inertial setA attracting bounded subsets ofE ₁=D(L)×V exponentially with growing time.     

Generalized Flows Satisfying Spatial Boundary Conditions

In a region D in ${\mathbb{R}^2}$ or ${\mathbb{R}^3}$ , the classical Euler equation for the regular motion of an inviscid and incompressible fluid of constant density is given by $$\partial_t v+(v\cdot \nabla_x)v=-\nabla_x p, {\rm div}_x v=0,$$ where v(t, x) is the velocity of the particle located at ${x\in D}$ at time t and ${p(t,x)\in\mathbb{R}}$ is the pressure. Solutions v and p to the Euler equation can be obtained by solving $$\left\{\begin{array}{l} \nabla_x\left\{\partial_t\phi(t,x,a) + p(t,x)+(1/2)|\nabla_x\phi(t,x,a)|^2 \right\}=0\,{\rm at}\,a=\kappa(t,x),\\ v(t,x)=\nabla_x \phi(t,x,a)\,{\rm at}\,a=\kappa(t,x), \\ \partial_t\kappa(t,x)+(v\cdot\nabla_x)\kappa(t,x)=0, \\ {\rm div}_x v(t,x)=0, \end{array}\right. \quad\quad\quad\quad\quad(0.1)$$ where $$\phi:\mathbb{R}\times D\times \mathbb{R}^l\rightarrow\mathbb{R}\,{\rm and}\, \kappa:\mathbb{R}\times D \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^l$$ are additional unknown mappings (l?≥ 1 is prescribed). The third equation in the system says that ${\kappa\in\mathbb{R}^l}$ is convected by the flow and the second one that ${\phi}$ can be interpreted as some kind of velocity potential. However vorticity is not precluded thanks to the dependence on a. With the additional condition κ(0, x)?=?x on D (and thus l?=?2 or 3), this formulation was developed by Brenier (Commun Pure Appl Math 52:411–452, 1999) in his Eulerian–Lagrangian variational approach to the Euler equation. He considered generalized flows that do not cross ${\partial D}$ and that carry each “particle” at time t?=?0 at a prescribed location at time t?=?T?>?0, that is, κ(T, x) is prescribed in D for all ${x\in D}$ . We are concerned with flows that are periodic in time and with prescribed flux through each point of the boundary ${\partial D}$ of the bounded region D (a two- or three-dimensional straight pipe). More precisely, the boundary condition is on the flux through ${\partial D}$ of particles labelled by each value of κ at each point of ${\partial D}$ . One of the main novelties is the introduction of a prescribed “generalized” Bernoulli’s function ${H:\mathbb{R}^l\rightarrow \mathbb{R}}$ , namely, we add to (0.1) the requirement that $$\partial_t\phi(t,x,a) +p(t,x)+(1/2)|\nabla_x\phi(t,x,a)|^2=H(a)\,{\rm at}\,a=\kappa(t,x)\quad\quad\quad\quad\quad(0.2)$$ with ${\phi,p,\kappa}$ periodic in time of prescribed period T?>?0. Equations (0.1) and (0.2) have a geometrical interpretation that is related to the notions of “Lamb’s surfaces” and “isotropic manifolds” in symplectic geometry. They may lead to flows with vorticity. An important advantage of Brenier’s formulation and its present adaptation consists in the fact that, under natural hypotheses, a solution in some weak sense always exists (if the boundary conditions are not contradictory). It is found by considering the functional $$(\kappa,v)\rightarrow \int\limits_{0}^T \int\limits_D\left\{\frac 1 2 |v(t,x)|^2+H(\kappa(t,x))\right\}dt\, dx$$ defined for κ and v that are T-periodic in t, such that $$\partial_t\kappa(t,x)+(v\cdot\nabla_x)\kappa(t,x)=0, {\rm div}_x v(t,x)=0,$$ and such that they satisfy the boundary conditions. The domain of this functional is enlarged to some set of vector measures and then a minimizer can be obtained. For stationary planar flows, the approach is compared with the following standard minimization method: to minimize $$\int\limits_{]0,L[\times]0,1[} \{(1/2)|\nabla \psi|^2+H(\psi)\}dx\,{\rm for}\,\psi\in W^{1,2}(]0,L[\times]0,1[)$$ under appropriate boundary conditions, where ψ is the stream function. For a minimizer, corresponding functions ${\phi}$ and κ are given in terms of the stream function ψ.     

A Concentration Phenomenon for Semilinear Elliptic Equations

For a domain ${\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^{N}}$ we consider the equation $$-\Delta{u} + V(x)u = Q_n(x)|{u}|^{p-2}u$$ with zero Dirichlet boundary conditions and ${p\in(2, 2^*)}$ . Here ${V \geqq 0}$ and Q _n are bounded functions that are positive in a region contained in ${\Omega}$ and negative outside, and such that the sets {Q _n  > 0} shrink to a point ${x_0 \in \Omega}$ as ${n \to \infty}$ . We show that if u _n is a nontrivial solution corresponding to Q _n , then the sequence (u _n ) concentrates at x ₀ with respect to the H ¹ and certain L ^q -norms. We also show that if the sets {Q _n  > 0} shrink to two points and u _n are ground state solutions, then they concentrate at one of these points.     

Maximal and Minimal Spreading Speeds for Reaction Diffusion Equations in Nonperiodic Slowly Varying Media

This paper investigates the asymptotic behavior of the solutions of the Fisher-KPP equation in a heterogeneous medium, $$\partial_t u = \partial_{xx} u + f(x,u),$$ associated with a compactly supported initial datum. A typical nonlinearity we consider is ${f(x,u) = \mu_0 (\phi (x)) u(1-u)}$ , where??? ₀ is a 1-periodic function and ${\phi}$ is a ${\mathcal{C}^1}$ increasing function that satisfies ${\lim_{x \to+\infty}\phi (x) = +\infty}$ and ${\lim_{x \to +\infty}\phi' (x) =0}$ . Although quite specific, the choice of such a reaction term is motivated by its highly heterogeneous nature. We exhibit two different behaviors for u for large times, depending on the speed of the convergence of ${\phi}$ at infinity. If ${\phi}$ grows sufficiently slowly, then we prove that the spreading speed of u oscillates between two distinct values. If ${\phi}$ grows rapidly, then we compute explicitly a unique and well determined speed of propagation w _??, arising from the limiting problem of an infinite period. We give a heuristic interpretation for these two behaviors.     

C 1 Solutions for Semi-Implicit Systems of Differential Equations

The present note is a continuation of the author??s effort to study the existence of continuously differentiable solutions to the semi-implicit system of differential equations (1) $$f(x^{\prime}(t)) = g(t, x(t))$$ (2) $$\quad x(0) = x_0,$$ where

${\quad\Omega_g \subseteq \mathbb{R} \times\mathbb{R}^n}$ is an open set containing (0, x ₀) and ${g:\Omega_g \rightarrow\mathbb{R}^n}$ is a continuous function,

${\quad\Omega_f \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n}$ is an open set and ${f:\Omega_f\rightarrow\mathbb{R}^n}$ is a continuous function.

The transformation of (1)?C(2) into a solvable explicit system of differential equations is trivial if f is locally injective around an element ${\gamma\in \Omega_f\cap f^{-1}(g(0,x_0))}$ . In this paper, we study (1)?C(2) when such a translation is not possible because of the inherent multivalued nature of f ^?1.     

Global Compensated Compactness Theorem for General Differential Operators of First Order

Let A ₁(x, D) and A ₂(x, D) be differential operators of the first order acting on l-vector functions ${u= (u_1, \ldots, u_l)}$ in a bounded domain ${\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^{n}}$ with the smooth boundary ${\partial\Omega}$ . We assume that the H ¹-norm ${\|u\|_{H^{1}(\Omega)}}$ is equivalent to ${\sum_{i=1}^2\|A_iu\|_{L^2(\Omega)} + \|B_1u\|_{H^{\frac{1}{2}}(\partial\Omega)}}$ and ${\sum_{i=1}^2\|A_iu\|_{L^2(\Omega)} + \|B_2u\|_{H^{\frac{1}{2}}(\partial\Omega)}}$ , where B _i  = B _i (x, ν) is the trace operator onto ${\partial\Omega}$ associated with A _i (x, D) for i = 1, 2 which is determined by the Stokes integral formula (ν: unit outer normal to ${\partial\Omega}$ ). Furthermore, we impose on A ₁ and A ₂ a cancellation property such as ${A_1A_2^{\prime}=0}$ and ${A_2A_1^{\prime}=0}$ , where ${A^{\prime}_i}$ is the formal adjoint differential operator of A _i (i = 1, 2). Suppose that ${\{u_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ and ${\{v_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ converge to u and v weakly in ${L^2(\Omega)}$ , respectively. Assume also that ${\{A_{1}u_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ and ${\{A_{2}v_{m}\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ are bounded in ${L^{2}(\Omega)}$ . If either ${\{B_{1}u_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ or ${\{B_{2}v_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ is bounded in ${H^{\frac{1}{2}}(\partial\Omega)}$ , then it holds that ${\int_{\Omega}u_m\cdot v_m \,{\rm d}x \to \int_{\Omega}u\cdot v \,{\rm d}x}$ . We also discuss a corresponding result on compact Riemannian manifolds with boundary.     

Liouville Type Property and Spreading Speeds of KPP Equations in Periodic Media with Localized Spatial Inhomogeneity

The current paper is devoted to the study of semilinear dispersal evolution equations of the form $$\begin{aligned} u_t(t,x)=(\mathcal {A}u)(t,x)+u(t,x)f(t,x,u(t,x)),\quad x\in \mathcal {H}, \end{aligned}$$ where $\mathcal {H}=\mathbb {R}^N$ or $\mathbb {Z}^N,\; \mathcal {A}$ is a random dispersal operator or nonlocal dispersal operator in the case $\mathcal {H}=\mathbb {R}^N$ and is a discrete dispersal operator in the case $\mathcal {H}=\mathbb {Z}^N$ , and $f$ is periodic in $t$ , asymptotically periodic in $x$ (i.e. $f(t,x,u)-f_0(t,x,u)$ converges to $0$ as $\Vert x\Vert \rightarrow \infty $ for some time and space periodic function $f_0(t,x,u)$ ), and is of KPP type in $u$ . It is proved that Liouville type property for such equations holds, that is, time periodic strictly positive solutions are unique. It is also proved that if $u\equiv 0$ is a linearly unstable solution to the time and space periodic limit equation of such an equation, then it has a unique stable time periodic strictly positive solution and has a spatial spreading speed in every direction.     

Several new types of bounded wave solutions for the generalized two-component Camassa–Holm equation

Li and Qiao studied the bifurcations and exact traveling wave solutions for the generalized two-component Camassa–Holm equation $$\begin{aligned} \left\{ \begin{array}{l} m_{t}+\sigma um_{x}-Au_{x}+2m \sigma u_{x}+3(1-\sigma )uu_{x}\\ \quad +\rho \rho _{x}=0, \\ \rho _{t} +(\rho u)_{x}=0, \end{array} \right. \end{aligned}$$ \(m=u-u_{xx}, A>0\) . They showed that there exist solitary wave solutions, cusp wave solutions, and periodic wave solutions for the equation, and their analysis focused on the bifurcations when \(\sigma >0\) . In this paper, we first complement the bifurcations when \(\sigma <0\) by following the same procedure as that of Li, and then show the existence and implicit expressions of several new types of bounded wave solutions, including solitary waves, periodic waves, compacton-like waves, and kink-like waves. In addition, the numerical simulations of the bounded wave solutions are given to show the correctness of our results.     

A connection formula for the second Painlevé transcendent

We consider the second Painlevé transcendent $$\frac{{d^2 y}}{{dx^2 }} = xy + 2y^3 .$$ It is known that if y(x) ～ k Ai (x) as x → + ∞, where ?1<k<1 and Ai (x) denotes Airy's function, then $$y(x) \sim d|x|^{ - \tfrac{1}{4}} sin\{ \tfrac{2}{3}|x|^{\tfrac{3}{2}} - \tfrac{3}{4}d^2 1n|x| - c\} ,$$ where the constants d, c depend on k. This paper shows that $$d^2 = \pi ^{ - 1} 1n(1 - k^2 )$$ , which confirms a conjecture by Ablowitz & Segur.     

A General Class of Free Boundary Problems for Fully Nonlinear Elliptic Equations

In this paper we study the fully nonlinear free boundary problem $$\left\{\begin{array}{ll}F(D^{2}u) = 1 & {\rm almost \, everywhere \, in}\, B_{1} \cap \Omega\\ |D^{2} u| \leqq K & {\rm almost \, everywhere \, in} \, B_{1} \setminus \Omega,\end{array}\right.$$ where K > 0, and Ω is an unknown open set. Our main result is the optimal regularity for solutions to this problem: namely, we prove that W ^2,n solutions are locally C ^1,1 inside B ₁. Under the extra condition that ${\Omega \supset \{D{u} \neq 0 \}}$ and a uniform thickness assumption on the coincidence set {D u = 0}, we also show local regularity for the free boundary ${\partial \Omega \cap B_1}$ .     

Segregated and Synchronized Vector Solutions for Nonlinear Schrödinger Systems

We consider the following nonlinear Schrödinger system in ${\mathbb{R}^3}$ $$\left\{\begin{array}{ll}-\Delta u + P(|x|)u = \mu u^{2}u + \beta v^2u,\quad x \in \mathbb{R}^3,\\-\Delta v + Q(|x|)v = \nu v^{2}v + \beta u^2v,\quad x \in \mathbb{R}^3,\end{array}\right.$$ where P(r) and Q(r) are positive radial potentials, ${\mu > 0, \nu > 0}$ and ${\beta \in \mathbb{R}}$ is a coupling constant. This type of system arises, in particular, in models in Bose–Einstein condensates theory. We examine the effect of nonlinear coupling on the solution structure. In the repulsive case, we construct an unbounded sequence of non-radial positive vector solutions of segregated type, and in the attractive case we construct an unbounded sequence of non-radial positive vector solutions of synchronized type. Depending upon the system being repulsive or attractive, our results exhibit distinct characteristic features of vector solutions.     

Stabilization in a two-dimensional chemotaxis-Navier–Stokes system

This paper deals with an initial-boundary value problem for the system $$\left\{ \begin{array}{llll} n_t + u\cdot\nabla n &=& \Delta n -\nabla \cdot (n\chi(c)\nabla c), \quad\quad & x\in\Omega, \, t > 0,\\ c_t + u\cdot\nabla c &=& \Delta c-nf(c), \quad\quad & x\in\Omega, \, t > 0,\\ u_t + \kappa (u\cdot \nabla) u &=& \Delta u + \nabla P + n \nabla\phi, \qquad & x\in\Omega, \, t > 0,\\ \nabla \cdot u &=& 0, \qquad & x\in\Omega, \, t > 0,\end{array} \right.$$ which has been proposed as a model for the spatio-temporal evolution of populations of swimming aerobic bacteria. It is known that in bounded convex domains ${\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^2}$ and under appropriate assumptions on the parameter functions χ, f and ?, for each ${\kappa\in\mathbb{R}}$ and all sufficiently smooth initial data this problem possesses a unique global-in-time classical solution. The present work asserts that this solution stabilizes to the spatially uniform equilibrium ${(\overline{n_0},0,0)}$ , where ${\overline{n_0}:=\frac{1}{|\Omega|} \int_\Omega n(x,0)\,{\rm d}x}$ , in the sense that as t→∞, $$n(\cdot,t) \to \overline{n_0}, \qquad c(\cdot,t) \to 0 \qquad \text{and}\qquad u(\cdot,t) \to 0$$ hold with respect to the norm in ${L^\infty(\Omega)}$ .     

A KAM Theorem for Higher Dimensional Nonlinear Schrödinger Equations

We prove an infinite dimensional KAM theorem. As an application, we use the theorem to study the higher dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation $$\begin{aligned} iu_t-\triangle u +M_\xi u+f(|u|^2)u=0, \quad t\in \mathbb{R }, x\in \mathbb{T }^d \end{aligned}$$ with periodic boundary conditions, where $M_\xi $ is a real Fourier multiplier and $f(|u|^2)$ is a real analytic function near $u=0$ with $f(0)=0$ . We obtain for the equation a Whitney smooth family of real-analytic small-amplitude linearly-stable quasi-periodic solutions with a nice linear normal form.     

A mathematical interpretation of Dirac δ function

The two conditions (see[1] p. 58) of the Dirac function are inconsistent in standard analysis.In this paper, the author began by studying the integral of the functions on the nucleon a(o), and then, making use of the point function in infinitesimal analysis to define the Dirac function (x) so that it satisfies the condition (1.2) and δ(X)=o, for X∈R≠0 and X Some various examples of Dirac functions have been presented and some properties of the d function have been derived.     

Spectral analysis of the Pekeris operator in the theory of acoustic wave propagation in shallow water

ThePekeris differential operator is defined by $$Au = - c^2 (x_n )\rho (x_n )\nabla \cdot \left( {\frac{1}{{\rho (x_n )}}\nabla u} \right),$$ wherex=(x ₁,x ₂,...x _n )∈R _n ,?=(?/?x ₁, ?/?x ₂,...?/?x _n ), and the functionsc(x _n),σ(x _n) satisfy $$c(x_n ) = \left\{ \begin{gathered} c_1 , 0 \leqq x_n< h, \hfill \\ c_2 , x_n \geqq h, \hfill \\ \end{gathered} \right.$$ and $$\rho (x_n ) = \left\{ \begin{gathered} \rho _1 , 0 \leqq x_n< h, \hfill \\ \rho _2 , x_n \geqq h, \hfill \\ \end{gathered} \right.$$ wherec ₁,c ₂,? ₁,? ₂, andh are positive constants. The operator arises in the study of acoustic wave propagation in a layer of water having sound speedc ₁ and density? ₁ which overlays a bottom having sound speedc ₂ and density? ₂. In this paper it is shown that the operatorA, acting on a class of functions u (x) which are defined for x_n≧0 and vanish for x_n=0, defines a selfadjoint operator on the Hilbert space whereR ₊ ⁿ ={x∈R ⁿ :x _n >0} anddx =dx ₁ dx ₂...dx _n denotes Lebesgue measure in R ₊ ⁿ . The spectral family ofA is constructed and the spectrum is shown to be continuous. Moreover an eigenfunction expansion for A is given in terms of a family of improper eigenfunctions. Whenc ₁≧c ₂ each eigenfunction can be interpreted as a plane wave plus a reflected wave. When c₁< c₂, additional eigen-functions arise which can be interpreted as plane waves that are trapped in the layer 0n h by total reflection at the interface x_n=h.     

Parabolic Systems with p, q-Growth: A Variational Approach

We consider the evolution problem associated with a convex integrand ${f : \mathbb{R}^{Nn}\to [0,\infty)}$ satisfying a non-standard p, q-growth assumption. To establish the existence of solutions we introduce the concept of variational solutions. In contrast to weak solutions, that is, mappings ${u\colon \Omega_T \to \mathbb{R}^n}$ which solve $$ \partial_tu-{\rm div} Df(Du)=0 $$ weakly in ${\Omega_T}$ , variational solutions exist under a much weaker assumption on the gap q ? p. Here, we prove the existence of variational solutions provided the integrand f is strictly convex and $$\frac{2n}{n+2} < p \le q < p+1.$$ These variational solutions turn out to be unique under certain mild additional assumptions on the data. Moreover, if the gap satisfies the natural stronger assumption $$ 2\le p \le q < p+ {\rm min}\big \{1,\frac{4}{n} \big \},$$ we show that variational solutions are actually weak solutions. This means that solutions u admit the necessary higher integrability of the spatial derivative Du to satisfy the parabolic system in the weak sense, that is, we prove that $$u\in L^q_{\rm loc}\big(0,T; W^{1,q}_{\rm loc}(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^N)\big).$$