Obstructions to Existence in Fast-Diffusion Equations

The study of nonlinear diffusion equations produces a number of peculiar phenomena not present in the standard linear theory. Thus, in the sub-field of very fast diffusion it is known that the Cauchy problem can be ill-posed, either because of non-uniqueness, or because of non-existence of solutions with small data. The equations we consider take the general form u_t=(D(u,u_x)u_x)_x or its several-dimension analogue. Fast diffusion means that D→∞ at some values of the arguments, typically as u→0 or u_x→0. Here, we describe two different types of non-existence phenomena. Some fast-diffusion equations with very singular D do not allow for solutions with sign changes, while other equations admit only monotone solutions, no oscillations being allowed. The examples we give for both types of anomaly are closely related. The most typical examples are v_t=(v_x/∣v∣)_x and u_t=u_xx/∣u_x∣. For these equations, we investigate what happens to the Cauchy problem when we take incompatible initial data and perform a standard regularization. It is shown that the limit gives rise to an initial layer where the data become admissible (positive or monotone, respectively), followed by a standard evolution for all t>0, once the obstruction has been removed.