Reaction-diffusion systems in nonconvex domains: Invariant manifold and reduced form

Abstract

A study is made of systems of weakly coupled, semilinear, parabolic equations, namely reaction-diffusion systems, subject to the homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions in parametrized nonconvex domains inR2. It is assumed that the domain approaches a union of two disjoint domains as the parameter varies. Under some conditions the long-time behavior of bounded solutions is discussed and the existence of a finite-dimensional invariant manifold is shown, together with its attractivity. This manifold is represented by a graph of some function defined in a possibly large bounded region of the phase space, and the original system is reduced to an ODE system on it. Since an explicit form of the reduced ODE system is given, its dynamics can be studied in detail, which in turn reveals the global dynamics of the original reaction-diffusion system. One can thereby prove, among other things, the existence of asymptotically stable equilibrium solutions of the original system having large spatial inhomogeneity. The existence and stability of a spatially inhomogeneous periodic solution of large amplitude are also discussed.