200 Exact Solutions and Invariant Subspaces
4.4.2 Finite propagation and oscillatory solutions
Example 4.28 (Finite propagation for m ∈ (−1, 0)) Thus, in order to have finite
propagation, we need a singular lower-order term with exponents
m < 0.
For solutions of changing sign, we take the signed mKdV-type equation,
u
t
−|u|
m
u
x
+ u
xxx
= 0inIR × IR
+
(4.143)
(recall the sign change in the second term to ensure a suitable finite propagation).
In general, existence of a solution for m ∈ (−1, 0) can be seen from the inte-
gral equation (4.140) analyzed by Schauder’s Theorem in a proper functional setting
(M is assumed to be compact and map a convex set into itself). It is principal that
uniqueness cannot follow from the integral equation, since M is not a contraction for
the non-Lipschitz nonlinearity |u|
m
u,wherem + 1 ∈ (0, 1).ThisisanOPEN PROB-
LEM.Asusual,uniqueness is associated with the approximation (ε-regularization)
approach as in Section 4.2.4. For second-order parabolic PDEs with singular non-
linear coefficients, this leads to notions of maximal or minimal proper solutions (see
[226, Ch. 7]).
As above, we reveal the interface behavior by using TWs (4.134) satisfying
λf = f
−
1
m+1
| f |
m
f for y > 0, f (0) = 0 (4.144)
(for simplicity, A = 0 in (4.135)). Let us begin by studying the crucial stationary
case λ = 0, where the ODE is simpler,
f
−
1
m+1
| f |
m
f = 0fory > 0, f (0) = 0.
This possesses the positive non-oscillatory solution
f (y) = ϕ
0
y
γ
, where γ =
2
|m|
> 0and
ϕ
0
=
2(m+1)(m+2)
m
2
1
m
,
(4.145)
which describes the behavior also near interfaces for λ = 0; see further asymptotic
expansions below. The function (4.145) being extended by 0 for y ≤ 0 is at least
C
[γ ]−1
at y = 0, and the smoothness increases as m → 0
−
,sinceγ =
2
|m|
→
+∞. Notice also that such solutions satisfy u ∈ C
2
x
for all m ∈ (−1, 0),which
seems difficult to prove for general weak solutions by the integral equation (4.140)
or otherwise. These regularity problems are
OPEN.
It is interesting to estimate the rate of divergence as m → 0
−
of the interface
x = s(t) of solutions u(x, t). For compactly supported u
0
, using estimates in (4.139)
yields, for small fixed t > 0, that
u(x , t) ∼ b(x, t) ∼ t
−
1
3
|x |
t
1/3
−
1
4
as x →−∞.
Consider the expansion for m ≈ 0
−
,
|u|
m
= 1 +m ln|u|+... ,
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