A periodic solution to a nonlinear diffusion equation

An analytic solution to the one dimensional heat diffusion equation is presented where the diffusion coefficient varies as a power of temperature. The discussion is motivated by the transmission of heat through the strongly nonlinear medium of soil. Under boundary conditions representing the daily, or seasonal, sinusoidal fluctuation in temperature it is seen that, despite the nonlinearity, the period of the oscillation is preserved on passage through the medium. The nonlinearity acts to accelerate the heating phase and retard the cooling phase within a period which itself remains stable. These effects are calculable from a second harmonic arising in the analysis.