A central limit theorem for solutions of the porous medium equation

We study the large–time behavior of the second moment (energy) for the flow of a gas in a N-dimensional porous medium with initial density v₀(x) 0. The density v(x, t) satisfies the nonlinear degenerate parabolic equation v_t = v^m where m > 1 is a physical constant. Assuming that for some > 0, we prove that E(t) behaves asymptotically, as t , like the energy E_B(t) of the Barenblatt-Pattle solution B(|x|, t). This is shown by proving that E(t)/E_B(t) converges to 1 at the (optimal) rate t^{–2/(N(m-1)+2)}. A simple corollary of this result is a central limit theorem for the scaled solution E(t)^N/2v(E(t)^1/2x, t).