Pattern formation in a cell migration model with aggregation and diffusion

Abstract

In this paper, we study pattern formations in an aggregation and diffusion cell migration model with Dirichlet boundary condition. The formal continuum limit of the model is a nonlinear parabolic equation with a diffusivity which can become negative if the cell density is small and spatial oscillations and aggregation occur in the numerical simulations. In the classical diffusion migration model with positive diffusivity and non-birth term, species will vanish eventually with Dirichlet boundary. However, because of the aggregation mechanism under small cell density, the total species density is conservative in the discrete aggregation diffusion model. Also, the discrete system converges to a unique positive steady-state with the initial density lying in the diffusion domain. Furthermore, the aggregation mechanism in the model induces rich asymptotic dynamical behaviors or patterns even with 5 discrete space points which gives a theoretical explanation that the interaction between aggregation and diffusion induces patterns in biology. In the corresponding continuous backward forward parabolic equation, the existence of the solution, maximum principle, the asymptotic behavior of the solution is also investigated.