The diffusive logistic model with a free boundary in heterogeneous environment

In this paper, we study the population dynamics of an invasive species in heterogeneous environment which is modeled by a diffusive logistic equation with free boundary condition. To understand the effect of the dispersal rate D and the parameter μ (the ratio of the expansion speed of the free boundary and the population gradient at the expanding front) on the dynamics of this model, we divide the heterogeneous environment into two cases: strong heterogeneous environment and weak heterogeneous environment. By choosing D and μ as variable parameters, we derive sufficient conditions for species spreading (resp. vanishing) in the strong heterogeneous environment; while in the weak heterogeneous environment, we obtain sharp criteria for the spreading and vanishing. Moreover, when spreading happens, we give an estimate for the asymptotic spreading speed of the free boundary. These theoretical results may have important implications for prediction and prevention of biological invasions.     

Linking method applied to a class of a system of critical growth wave equations

We show the existence of at least two solutions for a class of a system of critical growth wave equations, with periodic condition on t and the Dirichlet boundary condition

     

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.     

Evolutionary weighted p-Laplacian with boundary degeneracy

The paper concerns the well-posedness problem of an evolutionary weighted p-Laplacian with boundary degeneracy. Different from the classical theory for linear equations, it is shown that the degenerate portion of the boundary should be decomposed into two parts: the strongly degenerate boundary on which the equation exhibits hyperbolic characteristics and the weakly degenerate boundary on which the equation still exhibits parabolic characteristics. We formulate reasonably the boundary value condition and establish the existence and uniqueness theorems.     

Positive solutions of quasilinear parabolic systems with Dirichlet boundary condition

Coupled systems for a class of quasilinear parabolic equations and the corresponding elliptic systems, including systems of parabolic and ordinary differential equations are investigated. The aim of this paper is to show the existence, uniqueness, and asymptotic behavior of time-dependent solutions. Also investigated is the existence of positive maximal and minimal solutions of the corresponding quasilinear elliptic system. The elliptic operators in both systems are allowed to be degenerate in the sense that the density-dependent diffusion coefficients Di(ui) may have the property Di(0)=0 for some or all i=1,…,N, and the boundary condition is ui=0. Using the method of upper and lower solutions, we show that a unique global classical time-dependent solution exists and converges to the maximal solution for one class of initial functions and it converges to the minimal solution for another class of initial functions; and if the maximal and minimal solutions coincide then the steady-state solution is unique and the time-dependent solution converges to the unique solution. Applications of these results are given to three model problems, including a scalar polynomial growth problem, a coupled system of polynomial growth problem, and a two component competition model in ecology.     

Dynamical behaviors for 1D compressible Navier-Stokes equations with density-dependent viscosity

The dynamical behaviors of vacuum states for one-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations with density-dependent viscosity coefficient are considered. It is first shown that a unique strong solution to the free boundary value problem exists globally in time, the free boundary expands outwards at an algebraic rate in time, and the density is strictly positive in any finite time but decays pointwise to zero time-asymptotically. Then, it is proved that there exists a unique global weak solution to the initial boundary value problem when the initial data contains discontinuously a piece of continuous vacuum and is regular away from the vacuum. The solution is piecewise regular and contains a piece of continuous vacuum before the time T_∗>0, which is compressed at an algebraic rate and vanishes at the time T_∗, meanwhile the weak solution becomes either a strong solution or a piecewise strong one and tends to the equilibrium state exponentially.     

Interface boundary value problem for the Navier-Stokes equations in thin two-layer domains

We study a system of 3D Navier-Stokes equations in a two-layer parallelepiped-like domain with an interface coupling of the velocities and mixed (free/periodic) boundary condition on the external boundary. The system under consideration can be viewed as a simplified model describing some features of the mesoscale interaction of the ocean and atmosphere. In case when our domain is thin (of order ε), we prove the global existence of the strong solutions corresponding to a large set of initial data and forcing terms (roughly, of order ε^−2/3). We also give some results concerning the large time dynamics of the solutions. In particular, we prove a spatial regularity of the global weak attractor.     

Global dynamics and robustness of reversible autocatalytic reaction-diffusion systems

Global asymptotic dynamics of a representative cubic-autocatalytic reaction-diffusion system, the reversible Selkov equations, are investigated. This system features two pairs of oppositely signed nonlinear terms so that the asymptotic dissipative condition is not satisfied, which causes substantial difficulties in an attempt to attest that the longtime dynamics are asymptotically dissipative. An L² to H¹ global attractor of finite fractal dimension is shown to exist for the semiflow of the weak solutions of the reversible Selkov equations with the Dirichlet boundary condition on a bounded domain of dimension n≤3. A new method of rescaling and grouping estimation is used to prove the absorbing property and the asymptotical compactness. Importantly, the upper semicontinuity (robustness) in the H¹ product space of the global attractors for the family of solution semiflows with respect to the reverse reaction rate as it tends to zero is proved through a new approach of transformative decomposition to overcome the barrier of the perturbed singularity between the reversible and non-reversible systems by showing the uniform dissipativity and the uniformly bounded evolution of the union of global attractors under the bundle of reversible and non-reversible semiflows.     

On some free boundary problems of the prey–predator model

In this paper we investigate some free boundary problems for the Lotka–Volterra type prey–predator model in one space dimension. The main objective is to understand the asymptotic behavior of the two species (prey and predator) spreading via a free boundary. We prove a spreading–vanishing dichotomy, namely the two species either successfully spread to the entire space as time t goes to infinity and survive in the new environment, or they fail to establish and die out in the long run. The long time behavior of solution and criteria for spreading and vanishing are also obtained. Finally, when spreading successfully, we provide an estimate to show that the spreading speed (if exists) cannot be faster than the minimal speed of traveling wavefront solutions for the prey–predator model on the whole real line without a free boundary.     

Initial–boundary value problems for continuity equations with BV coefficients

We establish well-posedness of initial–boundary value problems for continuity equations with BV (bounded total variation) coefficients. We do not prescribe any condition on the orientation of the coefficients at the boundary of the domain. We also discuss some examples showing that, regardless of the orientation of the coefficients at the boundary, uniqueness may be violated as soon as the BV regularity deteriorates at the boundary.     

Lie group action and stability analysis of stationary solutions for a free boundary problem modelling tumor growth

In this paper we study asymptotic behavior of solutions for a free boundary problem modelling tumor growth. We first establish a general result for differential equations in Banach spaces possessing a Lie group action which maps a solution into new solutions. We prove that a center manifold exists under certain assumptions on the spectrum of the linearized operator without assuming that the space in which the equation is defined is of either DA(θ) or DA(θ,∞) type. By using this general result and making delicate analysis of the spectrum of the linearization of the stationary free boundary problem, we prove that if the surface tension coefficient γ is larger than a threshold value γ^* then the unique stationary solution is asymptotically stable modulo translations, provided the constant c is sufficiently small, whereas if γ<γ^* then this stationary solution is unstable.     

The Calderón-Zygmund property for quasilinear divergence form equations over Reifenberg flat domains

The results by Palagachev (2009) [3] regarding global Hölder continuity for the weak solutions to quasilinear divergence form elliptic equations are generalized to the case of nonlinear terms with optimal growths with respect to the unknown function and its gradient. Moreover, the principal coefficients are discontinuous with discontinuity measured in terms of small BMO norms and the underlying domain is supposed to have fractal boundary satisfying a condition of Reifenberg flatness. The results are extended to the case of parabolic operators as well.     

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).     

Regularity of Lipschitz free boundaries in two-phase problems for the p-Laplace operator

In this paper we study the regularity of the free boundary in a general two-phase free boundary problem for the p-Laplace operator and we prove, in particular, that Lipschitz free boundaries are C1,γ-smooth for some γ∈(0,1). As part of our argument, and which is of independent interest, we establish a Hopf boundary type principle for non-negative p-harmonic functions vanishing on a portion of the boundary of a Lipschitz domain.     

A finite volume scheme for a model coupling free surface and pressurised flows in pipes

A model is derived for the coupling of transient free surface and pressurized flows. The resulting system of equations is written under a conservative form with discontinuous gradient of pressure. We treat the transition point between the two types of flows as a free boundary associated to a discontinuity of the gradient of pressure. The numerical simulation is performed by making use of a Roe-like finite volume scheme that we adapted to such discontinuities in the flux. The validation is performed by comparison with experimental results.     

Strong full bounded solutions of nonlinear parabolic equations with nonlinear boundary conditions

We study the existence of (generalized) bounded solutions existing for all times for nonlinear parabolic equations with nonlinear boundary conditions on a domain that is bounded in space and unbounded in time (the entire real line). We give a counterexample which shows that a (weak) maximum principle does not hold in general for linear problems defined on the entire real line in time. We consider a boundedness condition at minus infinity to establish (one-sided) L^∞-a priori estimates for solutions to linear boundary value problems and derive a weak maximum principle which is valid on the entire real line in time. We then take up the case of nonlinear problems with (possibly) nonlinear boundary conditions. By using comparison techniques, some (delicate) a priori estimates obtained herein, and nonlinear approximation methods, we prove the existence and, in some instances, positivity and uniqueness of strong full bounded solutions existing for all times.     

Dynamics of two-compartment Gray-Scott equations

In this work the existence of a global attractor is proved for the solution semiflow of the coupled two-compartment Gray-Scott equations with the homogeneous Neumann boundary condition on a bounded domain of space dimension n≤3. The grouping estimation method combined with a new decomposition approach is introduced to overcome the difficulties in proving the absorbing property and the asymptotic compactness of this four-component reaction-diffusion systems with cubic autocatalytic nonlinearity and linear coupling. The finite dimensionality of the global attractor is also proved.     

Navier-Stokes equations in 3D thin domains with Navier friction boundary condition

In this article we study the 3D Navier-Stokes equations with Navier friction boundary condition in thin domains. We prove the global existence of strong solutions to the 3D Navier-Stokes equations when the initial data and external forces are in large sets as the thickness of the domain is small. We generalize the techniques developed to study the 3D Navier-Stokes equations in thin domains, see [G. Raugel, G. Sell, Navier-Stokes equations on thin 3D domains I: Global attractors and global regularity of solutions, J. Amer. Math. Soc. 6 (1993) 503-568; G. Raugel, G. Sell, Navier-Stokes equations on thin 3D domains II: Global regularity of spatially periodic conditions, in: Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and Their Application, College de France Seminar, vol. XI, Longman, Harlow, 1994, pp. 205-247; R. Temam, M. Ziane, Navier-Stokes equations in three-dimensional thin domains with various boundary conditions, Adv. Differential Equations 1 (1996) 499-546; R. Temam, M. Ziane, Navier-Stokes equations in thin spherical shells, in: Optimization Methods in Partial Differential Equations, in: Contemp. Math., vol. 209, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 1996, pp. 281-314], to the Navier friction boundary condition by introducing a new average operator Mε in the thin direction according to the spectral decomposition of the Stokes operator Aε. Our analysis hinges on the refined investigation of the eigenvalue problem corresponding to the Stokes operator Aε with Navier friction boundary condition.     

A minimum problem with free boundary in Orlicz spaces

We consider the optimization problem of minimizing in the class of functions W1,G(Ω) with , for a given φ₀?0 and bounded. W1,G(Ω) is the class of weakly differentiable functions with . The conditions on the function G allow for a different behavior at 0 and at ∞. We prove that every solution u is locally Lipschitz continuous, that it is a solution to a free boundary problem and that the free boundary, Ω∩∂{u>0}, is a regular surface. Also, we introduce the notion of weak solution to the free boundary problem solved by the minimizers and prove the Lipschitz regularity of the weak solutions and the C1,α regularity of their free boundaries near “flat” free boundary points.     

A priori estimate for non-uniform elliptic equations

A priori estimate for non-uniform elliptic equations with periodic boundary conditions is concerned. The domain considered consists of two sub-regions, a connected high permeability region and a disconnected matrix block region with low permeability. Let ? denote the size ratio of one matrix block to the whole domain. It is shown that in the connected high permeability sub-region, the Hölder and the Lipschitz estimates of the non-uniform elliptic solutions are bounded uniformly in ?. But Hölder gradient estimate and Lp estimate of the second order derivatives of the solutions in general are not bounded uniformly in ?.