A chemorepulsion model with superlinear production: analysis of the continuous problem and two approximately positive and energy-stable schemes

We consider the following repulsive-productive chemotaxis model: find u ≥ 0, the cell density, and v ≥ 0, the chemical concentration, satisfying $$ \left\{ \begin{array}{l} \partial_t u - {\Delta} u - \nabla\cdot (u\nabla v)=0 \ \ \text{ in}\ {\Omega},\ t>0,\\ \partial_t v - {\Delta} v + v = u^p \ \ { in}\ {\Omega},\ t>0, \end{array} \right. $$ ∂ t u − Δ u − ∇ ⋅ ( u ∇ v ) = 0 in Ω , t > 0 , ∂ t v − Δ v + v = u p i n Ω , t > 0 , with p ∈ (1, 2), ${\Omega }\subseteq \mathbb {R}^{d}$ Ω ⊆ ℝ d a bounded domain (d = 1, 2, 3), endowed with non-flux boundary conditions. By using a regularization technique, we prove the existence of global in time weak solutions of (1) which is regular and unique for d = 1, 2. Moreover, we propose two fully discrete Finite Element (FE) nonlinear schemes, the first one defined in the variables (u,v) under structured meshes, and the second one by using the auxiliary variable σ = ∇v and defined in general meshes. We prove some unconditional properties for both schemes, such as mass-conservation, solvability, energy-stability and approximated positivity. Finally, we compare the behavior of these schemes with respect to the classical FE backward Euler scheme throughout several numerical simulations and give some conclusions.

The hot spots conjecture can be false: some numerical examples

The hot spots conjecture is only known to be true for special geometries. This paper shows numerically that the hot spots conjecture can fail to be true for easy to construct bounded domains with one hole. The underlying eigenvalue problem for the Laplace equation with Neumann boundary condition is solved with boundary integral equations yielding a non-linear eigenvalue problem. Its discretization via the boundary element collocation method in combination with the algorithm by Beyn yields highly accurate results both for the first non-zero eigenvalue and its corresponding eigenfunction which is due to superconvergence. Additionally, it can be shown numerically that the ratio between the maximal/minimal value inside the domain and its maximal/minimal value on the boundary can be larger than 1 + 10− 3. Finally, numerical examples for easy to construct domains with up to five holes are provided which fail the hot spots conjecture as well.