Global existence and decay in nonlinearly coupled reaction-diffusion-advection equations with different velocities

Abstract

We develop techniques to capture the effect of transport on the long-term dynamics of small, localized initial data in nonlinearly coupled reaction-diffusion-advection equations on the real line. It is well-known that quadratic or cubic nonlinearities in such systems can lead to growth of small, localized initial data and even finite time blow-up. We show that, if the components exhibit different velocities, then quadratic or cubic mix-terms, i.e. terms with nontrivial contributions from both components, are harmless. We establish global existence and diffusive Gaussian-like decay for exponentially and algebraically localized initial conditions allowing for quadratic and cubic mix-terms. Our proof relies on a nonlinear iteration scheme that employs pointwise estimates. The situation becomes very delicate if other quadratic or cubic terms are present in the system. We provide an example where a quadratic mix-term and a Burgers'-type coupling can compensate for a cubic term due to differences in velocities.