Finite and infinite speed of propagation for porous medium equations with nonlocal pressure

TL;DR

This paper investigates the propagation speed in a fractional porous medium equation, establishing conditions under which solutions exhibit finite or infinite speed of propagation depending on the parameter m.

Contribution

It determines the critical exponent m=2 for propagation speed in a fractional porous medium equation with nonlocal pressure.

Findings

For m in [1,2), solutions have infinite propagation speed.

For m in [2,3), solutions have finite propagation speed.

Identifies m=2 as the critical exponent for propagation behavior.

Abstract

We study a porous medium equation with fractional potential pressure: $$ \partial_t u= \nabla \cdot (u^{m-1} \nabla p), \quad p=(-\Delta)^{-s}u, $$ for $m>1$, $0<s<1$ and $u(x,t)\ge 0$. The problem is posed for $x\in \mathbb{R}^N$, $N\geq 1$, and $t>0$. The initial data $u(x,0)$ is assumed to be a bounded function with compact support or fast decay at infinity. We establish existence of a class of weak solutions for which we determine whether the property of compact support is conserved in time depending on the parameter $m$, starting from the result of finite propagation known for $m=2$. We find that when $m\in [1,2)$ the problem has infinite speed of propagation, while for $m\in [2,3)$ it has finite speed of propagation. In other words $m=2$ is critical exponent regarding propagation.