Abstract. The simplest model of the Cauchy problem considered in this paper is the following . . u, =Au + uP, x£Rn,t>0, u>0, p>\, w u\l=0 = (t> € CB(R"), 4>>0, ?0.It is well known that when 1 < p < (n + 2)/n, the local solution of (*) blows up in finite time as long as the initial value 4> is nontrivial; and when p > (n + 2)/n , if is "small", (*) has a global classical solution decaying to zero as t -» +oo, while if for global existence and to study the asymptotic behavior of those global solutions.In particular, we prove that if n > 3 , p > n/(n -2),(us is a singular equilibrium of (*)) where 0 < À < 1 , then (*) has a (unique) global classical solution u with 0 < u < Xus and u{x, t)<((Xx-p -l)(p-l)0"1/(p_l).(This result implies that uq = 0 is stable w.r.t. to a weighted L°° topology when n > 3 and p > n/(n -2).) We also obtain some sufficient conditions on for global nonexistence and those conditions, when combined with our global existence result, indicate that for (¡> around us, we are in a delicate situation, and when p is fixed, uq = 0 is "increasingly stable" as the dimension n Î +oo . A slightly more general version of (*) is also considered and similar results are obtained.
IntroductionThe simplest model of the Cauchy problem considered in this paper is the following:u, = Au + up, x £ R", t > 0, p > 1, u\t=0 = >0, tf>£0.(0.1 ) is related to many equations arising from mathematical biology and chemical reactor theory, and the results for (0.1) may be used to the study of those equations as shown by Aronson and Weinberger [1]. Besides the practical interest in it, (0.1) and its various generalizations have been model problems for