Finite Time Blow-up for a Non-linear Parabolic Equation with a Gradient Term and Applications

We give new finite time blow-up results for the non-linear parabolic equations u_t−Δu = u^p and u_t−Δu+μ∣∇u∣^q = u^p. We first establish an a priori bound in L^p+1 for the positive non-decreasing global solutions. As a consequence, we prove in particular that for the second equation on ℝ^N, with q = 2p/(p+1) and small μ>0, blow-up can occur for any N≥1, p>1, (N−2)p<N+2 and without energy restriction on the initial data. Incidentally, we present a simple model in population dynamics involving this equation.