Language:   Search:   Contact
Zentralblatt MATH has released its new interface!
For an improved author identification, see the new author database of ZBMATH.

Query:
Fill in the form and click »Search«...
Format:
Display: entries per page entries
Zbl 0706.35008
Levine, Howard A.
The role of critical exponents in blowup theorems.
(English)
[J] SIAM Rev. 32, No.2, 262-288 (1990). ISSN 0036-1445; ISSN 1095-7200/e

The survey presents some basic results on the critical exponents for nonlinear evolution problems. One typical example is the following nonlinear problem for the heat equation $$(F)\quad u\sb t=\Delta u+u\sp p,\quad x\in {\bbfR}\sp N,\quad t>0,\quad u(0,x)=u\sb 0(x),\quad x\in {\bbfR}\sp N,$$ where $\Delta$ denotes the N-dimensional Laplace operator. A result due to Fujita guarantees that for the critical exponent $p\sb c(N)=1+2/N$ the following two statements are fulfilled.\par (A) If $1<p<p\sb c(N)$, then the only nonnegative global (in time) solution of (F) is $u=0.$ \par (B) If $p>p\sb c(N)$, then there exists a global positive solution of (F), if the initial data are sufficiently small.\par The survey is divided into four sections. The first section deals with some extensions of the problem (F). The first part 1.1 of this section is devoted to the cases of other geometries, various linear dissipative terms or other reaction terms. More precisely, if D $(\subset {\bbfR}\sp N)$ is any bounded or unbounded domain, then in the place of (F) the author considers the initial boundary value problem $$(D)\quad u\sb t=\Delta u+u\sp p,\quad (x,t)\in D\times (0,T),\quad u(0,x)=u\sb 0(x),\quad x\in D,\quad u(t,x)=0,\quad (x,t)\in \partial D\times (0,T),$$ or the following generalization of (D) $(GD)\quad u\sb t=\sum\sp{N}\sb{i,j=1}(a\sb{ij}(t,x)u\sb{x\sb i})\sb{x\sb j}+\sum\sp{N}\sb{i=1}b\sb i(t,x)u\sb{x\sb i}+u\sp p$ (p$\le 1)$, $u(0,x)=u\sb 0(x)$, $x\in D$, $u(t,x)=0$, (x,t)$\in \partial D\times (0,T)$, where the coefficients of the linear operator of the right-hand side are uniformly bounded in $D\times (0,\infty)$. A result due to Meier asserts that a critical exponent $p\sb c(GD)\ge 1$ exists. An explicit representation of $p\sb c(GD)$ or $p\sb c(D)$ is known for special cases of D. For example, if D is the orthant'' $D\sb k=\{x\in {\bbfR}\sp N$; $x\sb 1>0,...$, $x\sb k>0\}$, then we have $p\sb c(D\sb k)=1+2/(k+N)$ according to a result due to Meier. Another case studied in the first part of section 1 is the case of a cone D with a vertex at the origin. An explicit representation of $p\sb c(D)$ is found by Levine, Bandle and Meier. \par Another problem close to (F) is the Dirichlet problem for the nonlinear heat equation in which $u\sp p$ is replaced by $\vert u\vert\sp{p-1}u$. In this case one is interested in real valued solutions. This part contains also a summary on the results for $u\sb t=\Delta u+\vert x\vert\sp{\sigma}u\sp p$ or $u\sb t=\Delta u+t\sp k\vert x\vert\sp{\sigma}u\sp p$ and the dependence of the critical exponent on k, $\sigma$, p. \par For the general case of the problem (GD), where D has bounded complement upper and lower bounds for $p\sb c(GD)$ are found according to the results of Bandle and Levine. \par Part 1.2 of section 1 summarizes the results on the problem $u\sb t=A(u)+u\sp p$, where A(u) is in general a nonlinear dissipative term. Various special choices of A(u) are studied. For example a typical choice of A is given by $$A(u)=div\{\frac{\nabla\sb xu}{(1+\vert \nabla\sb xu\vert\sp 2)\sp{1/2}}\}$$ representing the mean curvature operator. Another choice of A was considered by Galaktionov, $A(u)=\sum\sp{N}\sb{i=1}\partial\sb{x\sb i}(\vert \nabla u\vert\sp{\sigma} \partial\sb{x\sb i}u).$ \par Part 1.3 of section 1 contains a summary of results for bounded domains D, while the part 1.4 is devoted to systems of equations. For example $u\sb t=\Delta u+v\sp p$, $v\sb t=\Delta v+u\sp p.$ \par In section II the author considers the nonlinear Schrödinger equation $$(NLS)\quad iu\sb t+\Delta u+\vert u\vert\sp{p-1}u=0,\quad x\in {\bbfR}\sp N,\quad t>0,\quad u(0,x)=u\sb 0(x).$$ For this problem the critical exponent is $p\sb{nls}(N)=1+4/N.$ \par In section III the nonlinear wave equation $u\sb{tt}=\Delta u+\vert u\vert\sp p$, $u(0,x)=u\sb 0(x)$, $u\sb t(0,x)=u\sb 1(x)$ as well as the critical exponent for this equation are examined. The critical exponent is the larger root of the quadratic equation $(N-1)p\sp 2-(N+1)p-2=0.$ \par Finally, in section IV some concluding remarks are discussed.
[V.Georgiev]
MSC 2000:
*35B30 Dependence of solutions of PDE on initial and boundary data
35B40 Asymptotic behavior of solutions of PDE
35K55 Nonlinear parabolic equations
35Q55 NLS-like (nonlinear Schroedinger) equations
35K65 Parabolic equations of degenerate type
35-02 Research monographs (partial differential equations)
35L70 Second order nonlinear hyperbolic equations

Keywords: blowup; critical exponents; global positive solution; nonlinear heat equation; mean curvature operator; nonlinear wave equation

Cited in: Zbl 0823.35076 Zbl 0717.35037

Highlights
Master Server