Nonlinear diffusion equations driven by the p(·)-Laplacian

Abstract

This paper is concerned with nonlinear diffusion equations driven by the p(·)-Laplacian with variable exponents in space. The well-posedness is first checked for measurable exponents by setting up a subdifferential approach. The main purposes are to investigate the large-time behavior of solutions as well as to reveal the limiting behavior of solutions as p(·) diverges to the infinity in the whole or in a subset of the domain. To this end, the recent developments in the studies of variable exponent Lebesgue and Sobolev spaces are exploited, and moreover, the spatial inhomogeneity of variable exponents p(·) is appropriately controlled to obtain each result. © 2012 Springer Basel AG.