A Gamma-convergence argument for the blow-up of a non-local semilinear parabolic equation with Neumann boundary conditions

In this paper we study a simple non-local semilinear parabolic equation with Neumann boundary condition. We give local existence result and prove global existence for small initial data. A natural non increasing in time energy is associated to this equation. We prove that the solution blows up at finite time $T$ if and only if its energy is negative at some time before $T$. The proof of this result is based on a Gamma-convergence technique

Nonlinear Convection in Reaction-diffusion Equations under dynamical boundary conditions

We investigate blow-up phenomena for positive solutions of nonlinear reaction-diffusion equations including a nonlinear convection term $\partial_t u = \Delta u - g(u) \cdot \nabla u + f(u)$ in a bounded domain of $\mathbb{R}^N$ under the dissipative dynamical boundary conditions $\sigma \partial_t u + \partial_\nu u =0$. Some conditions on $g$ and $f$ are discussed to state if the positive solutions blow up in finite time or not. Moreover, for certain classes of nonlinearities, an upper-bound for the blow-up time can be derived and the blow-up rate can be determinated.Comment: 20 page

Global Regularity vs. Finite-Time Singularities: Some Paradigms on the Effect of Boundary Conditions and Certain Perturbations

In light of the question of finite-time blow-up vs. global well-posedness of solutions to problems involving nonlinear partial differential equations, we provide several cautionary examples which indicate that modifications to the boundary conditions or to the nonlinearity of the equations can effect whether the equations develop finite-time singularities. In particular, we aim to underscore the idea that in analytical and computational investigations of the blow-up of three-dimensional Euler and Navier-Stokes equations, the boundary conditions may need to be taken into greater account. We also examine a perturbation of the nonlinearity by dropping the advection term in the evolution of the derivative of the solutions to the viscous Burgers equation, which leads to the development of singularities not present in the original equation, and indicates that there is a regularizing mechanism in part of the nonlinearity. This simple analytical example corroborates recent computational observations in the singularity formation of fluid equations