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An analysis of localized patterns in some novel reaction diffusion models

University of British Columbia

In this thesis we investigate strongly localized solutions to systems of singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion equations arising in several new contexts. The first such context is that of bulk-membrane-coupled reaction diffusion systems in which reaction-diffusion systems posed on the boundary and interior of a domain are coupled. In particular we analyze the consequences of introducing bulk-membrane-coupling on the behaviour of strongly localized solutions to the singularly perturbed Gierer-Meinhardt model posed on the one-dimensional boundary of a flat disk and the singularly perturbed Brusselator model posed on the two-dimensional unit sphere. Using formal asymptotic methods we derive hybrid numerical-asymptotic equations governing the structure, linear stability, and slow dynamics of strongly localized solutions consisting of multiple spikes. By numerically calculating stability thresholds we illustrate that bulk-membrane coupling can lead to both the stabilization and the destabilization of strongly localized solutions based on intricate relationships between the bulk-membrane-coupling parameters. The remainder of the thesis focuses exclusively on the singularly perturbed Gierer-Meinhardt model in two new contexts. First, the introduction of an inhomogeneous activator boundary flux to the classically studied one-dimensional Gierer-Meinhardt model is considered. Using the method of matched asymptotic expansions we determine the emergence of \textit{shifted} boundary-bound spikes. By linearizing about such a shifted boundary-spike solution we derive a class of \textit{shifted} nonlocal eigenvalue problems parametrized by a shift parameter. We rigorously prove partial stability results and by considering explicit examples we illustrate novel phenomena introduced by the inhomogeneous boundary fluxed. In the second and final context we consider the Gierer-Meinhardt model in three-dimensions for which we use formal asymptotic methods to study the structure, stability, and dynamics of strongly localized solutions. Most importantly we determine two distinguished parameter regimes in which strongly localized solutions exist. This is in contrast to previous studies of strongly localized solutions in three-dimensions where such solutions are found to exist in only one parameter regime. We trace this distinction back to the far-field behaviour of certain core problems and formulate an appropriate conjecture whose resolution will be key in the rigorous study of strongly localized solutions in three-dimensional domains.

Text

2020-11-26

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76597

Mathematics

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/