arXiv subjects

Yihong Du

Publications and source records attributed to Yihong Du.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Rate of accelerated expansion of the epidemic region in a nonlocal epidemic model with free boundaries

This paper is concerned with the long-time dynamics of an epidemic model whose diffusion and reaction terms involve nonlocal effects described by suitable convolution operators, and the epidemic region is represented by an evolving interval enclosed by the free boundaries in the model. In Wang and Du \cite{WangDu-JDE}, it was shown that the model is well-posed, and its long-time dynamical behaviour is governed by a spreading-vanishing dichotomy. The spreading speed was investigated in a subsequent work of Wang and Du \cite{WangDu-DCDS-A}, where a threshold condition for the diffusion kernels $J_1$ and $J_2$ was obtained, such that the asymptotic spreading speed is finite precisely when this condition is satisfied. In this paper, we examine the case that this threshold condition is not satisfied, which leads to accelerated spreading; for some typical classes of kernel functions, we determine the precise rate of accelerated expansion of the epidemic region by constructing delicate upper and lower solutions.

math.AP↗

arXiv2023

Sea Water Freezing Modes in a Natural Convection System

Sea ice is crucial in many natural processes and human activities. Understanding the dynamical couplings between the inception, growth and equilibrium of sea ice and the rich fluid mechanical processes occurring at its interface and interior is of relevance in many domains ranging from geophysics to marine engineering. Here we experimentally investigate the complete freezing process of water with dissolved salt in a standard natural convection system, i.e., the prototypical Rayleigh-Bénard cell. Due to the presence of a mushy phase, the studied system is considerably more complex than the freezing of freshwater in the same conditions (Wang et al. 2021c). We measure the ice thickness and porosity at the dynamical equilibrium state for different initial salinities of the solution and temperature gaps across the cell. These observables are non-trivially related to the controlling parameters of the system as they depend on the heat transport mode across the cell. We identify in the experiments 5 out of the 6 possible modes of heat transport. We highlight the occurrence of brine convection through the mushy ice and of penetrative convection in stably stratified liquid underlying the ice. A one-dimensional multi-layer heat flux model built on the known scaling relations of global heat transport in natural convection systems in liquids and porous media is proposed. It allows, given the measured porosity of the ice, to predict the corresponding ice thickness, in a unified framework.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Radial terrace solutions and propagation profile of multistable reaction-diffusion equations over $\mathbb R^N$

We study the propagation profile of the solution $u(x,t)$ to the nonlinear diffusion problem $u_t-Δu=f(u)\; (x\in \mathbb R^N,\;t>0)$, $u(x,0)=u_0(x) \; (x\in\mathbb R^N)$, where $f(u)$ is of multistable type: $f(0)=f(p)=0$, $f'(0)<0$, $f'(p)<0$, where $p$ is a positive constant, and $f$ may have finitely many nondegenerate zeros in the interval $(0, p)$. The class of initial functions $u_0$ includes in particular those which are nonnegative and decay to 0 at infinity. We show that, if $u(\cdot, t)$ converges to $p$ as $t\to\infty$ in $L^\infty_{loc}(\mathbb R^N)$, then the long-time dynamical behavior of $u$ is determined by the one dimensional propagating terraces introduced by Ducrot, Giletti and Matano [DGM]. For example, we will show that in such a case, in any given direction $ν\in\mathbb{S}^{N-1}$, $u(x\cdot ν, t)$ converges to a pair of one dimensional propagating terraces, one moving in the direction of $x\cdot ν>0$, and the other is its reflection moving in the opposite direction $x\cdotν<0$. Our approach relies on the introduction of the notion "radial terrace solution", by which we mean a special solution $V(|x|, t)$ of $V_t-ΔV=f(V)$ such that, as $t\to\infty$, $V(r,t)$ converges to the corresponding one dimensional propagating terrace of [DGM]. We show that such radial terrace solutions exist in our setting, and the general solution $u(x,t)$ can be well approximated by a suitablly shifted radial terrace solution $V(|x|, t)$. These will enable us to obtain better convergence result for $u(x,t)$. We stress that $u(x,t)$ is a high dimensional solution without any symmetry. Our results indicate that the one dimensional propagating terrace is a rather fundamental concept; it provides the basic structure and ingredients for the long-time profile of solutions in all space dimensions.

math.AP↗

arXiv2022

Long-time dynamics of a nonlocal epidemic model with free boundaries: spreading-vanishing dichotomy

In this paper, we examine the long-time dynamics of an epidemic model whose diffusion and reaction terms involve nonlocal effects described by suitable convolution operators.The spreading front of the disease is represented by the free boundaries in the model. We show that the model is well-posed, its long-time dynamical behaviour is characterised by a spreading-vanishing dichotomy, and we also obtain sharp criteria to determine the dichotomy. Some of the nonlocal effects in the model pose extra difficulties in the mathematical treatment, which are dealt with by introducing new approaches. The model can capture accelerated spreading, and its spreading rate will be discussed in a subsequent work.

math.AP↗

arXiv2021

Ice front shaping by upward convective current

The extent and the morphology of ice forming in a differentially heated cavity filled with water is studied by means of experiments and numerical simulations. We show that the main mechanism responsible for the ice shaping is the existence of a cold upward convective current in the system. Such a current is ascribed to the peculiar equation of state of water, i.e., the non-monotonous dependence of density with temperature. The precise form of the ice front depends on several factors, first the temperature difference across the cell which drives the convection, second the wall inclination with respect to the vertical, both of which are here explored. We propose a boundary-layer model and a buoyancy-intensity model which account for the main features of the ice morphology.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

The high dimensional Fisher-KPP nonlocal diffusion equation with free boundary and radial symmetry

We study the radially symmetric high dimensional Fisher-KPP nonlocal diffusion equation with free boundary, and reveal some fundamental differences from its one dimensional version considered in \cite{cdjfa} recently. Technically, this high dimensional problem is much more difficult to treat since it involves two kernel functions which arise from the original kernel function $J(|x|)$ in rather implicit ways. By introducing new techniques, we are able to determine the long-time dynamics of the model, including firstly finding the threshold condition on the kernel function that governs the onset of accelerated spreading, and the determination of the spreading speed when it is finite. Moreover, for two important classes of kernel functions, sharp estimates of the spreading profile are obtained. More precisely, for kernel functions with compact support, we show that logarithmic shifting occurs from the finite wave speed propagation, which is strikingly different from the one dimension case; for kernel functions $J(|x|)$ behaving like $|x|^{-β}$ for $x\in\R^N$ near infinity, we obtain the rate of accelerated spreading when $β\in (N, N+1]$, which is the exact range of $β$ where accelerated spreading is possible. These sharp estimates are obtained by constructing subtle upper and lower solutions, based on careful analysis of the involved kernel functions.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

Travelling-wave behaviour in doubly nonlinear reaction-diffusion equations

We study a family of reaction-diffusion equations that present a doubly nonlinear character given by a combination of the $p$-Laplacian and the porous medium operators. We consider the so-called slow diffusion regime, corresponding to a degenerate behaviour at the level 0, \normalcolor in which nonnegative solutions with compactly supported initial data have a compact support for any later time. For some results we will also require $p\ge2$ to avoid the possibility of a singular behaviour away from 0. Problems in this family have a unique (up to translations) travelling wave with a finite front. When the initial datum is bounded, radially symmetric and compactly supported, we will prove that solutions converging to 1 (which exist, as we show, for all the reaction terms under consideration for wide classes of initial data) do so by approaching a translation of this unique traveling wave in the radial direction, but with a logarithmic correction in the position of the front when the dimension is bigger than one. As a corollary we obtain the asymptotic location of the free boundary and level sets in the non-radial case up to an error term of size $O(1)$. In dimension one we extend our results to cover the case of non-symmetric initial data, as well as the case of bounded initial data with supporting sets unbounded in one direction of the real line. A main technical tool of independent interest is an estimate for the flux. Most of our results are new even for the special cases of the porous medium equation and the $p$-Laplacian evolution equation.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

Semi-wave, traveling wave and spreading speed for monostable cooperative systems with nonlocal diffusion and free boundaries

We consider a class of cooperative reaction-diffusion systems with free boundaries in one space dimension, where the diffusion terms are nonlocal, given by integral operators involving suitable kernel functions, and they are allowed not to appear in some of the equations in the system. The problem is monostable in nature, resembling the well known Fisher-KPP equation. Such a system covers various models arising from mathematical biology, with the Fisher-KPP equation as the simplest special case, where a "spreading-vanishing" dichotomy is known to govern the long time dynamical behaviour. The question of spreading speed is widely open for such systems except for the scalar case. In this paper, we develop a systematic approach to determine the spreading profile of the system, and obtain threshold conditions on the kernel functions which decide exactly when the spreading has finite speed, or infinite speed (accelerated spreading). This relies on a rather complete understanding of both the associated semi-waves and traveling waves. When the spreading speed is finite, we show that the speed is determined by a particular semi-wave, and obtain sharp estimates of the semi-wave profile and the spreading speed. For kernel functions that behave like $|x|^{-γ}$ near infinity, we are able to obtain better estimates of the spreading speed for both the finite speed case, and the infinite speed case, which appear to be the first for this kind of free boundary problems, even for the special Fisher-KPP equation.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

The Stefan problem for the Fisher-KPP equation with unbounded initial range

We consider the nonlinear Stefan problem $$ \left \{ \begin{array} {ll} -d Δu=a u-b u^2 \;\; & \mbox{for } x \in Ω(t), \; t>0, \\ u=0 \mbox{ and } u_t=μ|\nabla_x u |^2 \;\;&\mbox{for } x \in \partialΩ(t), \; t>0, \\ u(0,x)=u_0 (x) \;\; & \mbox{for } x \in Ω_0, \end{array}\right. $$ where $Ω(0)=Ω_0$ is an unbounded smooth domain in $\mathbb R^N$, $u_0>0$ in $Ω_0$ and $u_0$ vanishes on $\partialΩ_0$. When $Ω_0$ is bounded, the long-time behavior of this problem has been rather well-understood by \cite{DG1,DG2,DLZ, DMW}. Here we reveal some interesting different behavior for certain unbounded $Ω_0$. We also give a unified approach for a weak solution theory to this kind of free boundary problems with bounded or unbounded $Ω_0$.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

Approximation of random diffusion equation by nonlocal diffusion equation in free boundary problems of one space dimension

We show how the Stefan type free boundary problem with random diffusion in one space dimension can be approximated by the corresponding free boundary problem with nonlocal diffusion. The approximation problem is a slightly modified version of the nonlocal diffusion problem with free boundaries considered in [4,8]. The proof relies on the introduction of several auxiliary free boundary problems and constructions of delicate upper and lower solutions for these problems. As usual, the approximation is achieved by choosing the kernel function in the nonlocal diffusion term of the form $J_ε(x)=\frac 1εJ(\frac xε)$ for small $ε>0$, where $J(x)$ has compact support. We also give an estimate of the error term of the approximation by some positive power of $ε$.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

Semi-wave and spreading speed of the nonlocal Fisher-KPP equation with free boundaries

In Cao, Du, Li and Li [8], a nonlocal diffusion model with free boundaries extending the local diffusion model of Du and Lin [12] was introduced and studied. For Fisher-KPP type nonlinearities, its long-time dynamical behaviour is shown to follow a spreading-vanishing dichotomy. However, when spreading happens, the question of spreading speed was left open in [8]. In this paper we obtain a rather complete answer to this question. We find a condition on the kernel function such that spreading grows linearly in time exactly when this condition holds, which is achieved by completely solving the associated semi-wave problem that determines this linear speed; when the kernel function violates this condition, we show that accelerating spreading happens.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

The dynamics of a degenerate epidemic model with nonlocal diffusion and free boundaries

We consider an epidemic model with nonlocal diffusion and free boundaries, which describes the evolution of an infectious agents with nonlocal diffusion and the infected humans without diffusion, where humans get infected by the agents, and infected humans in return contribute to the growth of the agents. The model can be viewed as a nonlocal version of the free boundary model studied by Ahn, Beak and Lin \cite{ABL2016}, with its origin tracing back to Capasso et al. \cite{CP1979, CM1981}. We prove that the problem has a unique solution defined for all $t>0$, and its long-time dynamical behaviour is governed by a spreading-vanishing dichotomy. Sharp criteria for spreading and vanishing are also obtained, which reveal significant differences from the local diffusion model in \cite{ABL2016}. Depending on the choice of the kernel function in the nonlocal diffusion operator, it is expected that the nonlocal model here may have accelerated spreading, which would contrast sharply to the model of \cite{ABL2016}, where the spreading has finite speed whenever spreading happens \cite{ZLN2019}.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

The Fisher-KPP equation over simple graphs: Varied persistence states in river networks

In this article, we study the growth and spread of a new species in a river network with two or three branches via the Fisher-KPP advection-diffusion equation over some simple graphs with every edge a half infinite line. We obtain a rather complete description of the long-time dynamical behavior for every case under consideration, which can be loosely described by a trichotomy (see Remark 1.7), including two different kinds of persistence states as parameters vary. The phenomenon of "persistence below carrying capacity" revealed here appears new, which does not occur in related models of the existing literature where the river network is represented by graphs with finite-lengthed edges, or the river network is simplified to a single infinite line.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

A free boundary problem for spreading under shifting climate

In this paper we consider a free boundary problem which models the spreading of an invasive species whose spreading is enhanced by the changing climate. We assume that the climate is shifting with speed c and obtain a complete classification of the long-time dynamical behaviour of the species. The model is similar to that in [9] with a slight refinement in the free boundary condition. While [9], like many works in the literature, investigates the case that unfavourable environment is shifting into the favourable habitat of the concerned species, here we examine the situation that the unfavourable habitat of an invasive species is replaced by a favourable environment with a shifting speed c. We show that a spreading-vanishing dichotomy holds, and there exists a critical speed$c_0$ such that when spreading happens in the case $c < c_0$, the spreading profile is determined by a semi-wave with forced speed c, but when $c \geq c_0$, the spreading profile is determined by the usual semi-wave with speed $c_0$.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

Two species nonlocal diffusion systems with free boundaries

We study a class of free boundary systems with nonlocal diffusion, which are natural extensions of the corresponding free boundary problems of reaction diffusion systems. As before the free boundary represents the spreading front of the species, but here the population dispersal is described by "nonlocal diffusion" instead of "local diffusion". We prove that such a nonlocal diffusion problem with free boundary has a unique global solution, and for models with Lotka-Volterra type competition or predator-prey growth terms, we show that a spreading-vanishing dichotomy holds, and obtain criteria for spreading and vanishing; moreover, for the weak competition case and for the weak predation case, we can determine the long-time asymptotic limit of the solution when spreading happens. Compared with the single species free boundary model with nonlocal diffusion considered recently in \cite{CDLL}, and the two species cases with local diffusion extensively studied in the literature, the situation considered in this paper involves several extra difficulties, which are overcome by the use of some new techniques.

math.AP↗

arXiv2018

The dynamics of a Fisher-KPP nonlocal diffusion model with free boundaries

We introduce and study a class of free boundary models with "nonlocal diffusion", which are natural extensions of the free boundary models in Du and Lin [17] and elsewhere, where "local diffusion" is used to describe the population dispersal, with the free boundary representing the spreading front of the species. We show that this nonlocal problem has a unique solution defined for all time, and then examine its long-time dynamical behavior when the growth function is of Fisher-KPP type. We prove that a spreading-vanishing dichotomy holds, though for the spreading-vanishing criteria significant differences arise from the well known local diffusion model in Du and Lin [17].

math.AP↗

arXiv2018

Logarithmic corrections in Fisher-KPP type Porous Medium Equations

We consider the large time behaviour of solutions to the porous medium equation with a Fisher-KPP type reaction term and nonnegative, compactly supported initial function in $L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^N)\setminus\{0\}$: \begin{equation} \label{eq:abstract} \tag{$\star$}u_t=Δu^m+u-u^2\quad\text{in }Q:=\mathbb{R}^N\times\mathbb{R}_+,\qquad u(\cdot,0)=u_0\quad\text{in }\mathbb{R}^N, \end{equation} with $m>1$. It is well known that the spatial support of the solution $u(\cdot, t)$ to this problem remains bounded for all time $t>0$. In spatial dimension one it is known that there is a minimal speed $c_*>0$ for which the equation admits a wavefront solution $Φ_{c_*}$ with a finite front, and it attract solutions with initial functions behaving like a Heaviside function. In dimension one we can obtain an analogous stability result for the case of compactly supported initial data. In higher dimensions we show that $Φ_{c_*}$ is still attractive, albeit that a logarithmic shifting occurs. More precisely, if the initial function in \eqref{eq:abstract} is additionally assumed to be radially symmetric, then there exists a second constant $c^*>0$ independent of the dimension $N$ and the initial function $u_0$, such that \[ \lim_{t\to\infty}\left\{\sup_{x\in\mathbb R^N}\big|u(x,t)-Φ_{c_*}(|x|-c_*t+(N-1)c^*\log t-r_0)\big|\right\}=0 \] for some $r_0\in\mathbb{R}$ (depending on $u_0$). If the initial function is not radially symmetric, then there exist $r_1, r_2\in \mathbb{R}$ such that the boundary of the spatial support of the solution $u(\cdot, t)$ is contained in the spherical shell $\{x\in\mathbb R^N: r_1\leq |x|-c_* t+(N-1)c^* \log t\leq r_2\}$ for all $t\ge1$. Moreover, as $t\to\infty$, $u(x,t)$ converges to $1$ uniformly in $\big\{|x|\leq c_*t-(N-1)c\log t\big\}$ for any $c>c^*$.

math.AP↗

arXiv2017

Spreading with two speeds and mass segregation in a diffusive competition system with free boundaries

We investigate the spreading behavior of two invasive species modeled by a Lotka-Volterra diffusive competition system with two free boundaries in a spherically symmetric setting. We show that, for the weak-strong competition case, under suitable assumptions, both species in the system can successfully spread into the available environment, but their spreading speeds are different, and their population masses tend to segregate, with the slower spreading competitor having its population concentrating on an expanding ball, say Bt, and the faster spreading competitor concentrating on a spherical shell outside Bt that disappears to infinity as time goes to infinity.

math.AP↗