Well-posedness of parabolic equations containing hysteresis with diffusive thresholds

Abstract

We study complex systems arising, in particular, in population dynamics, developmental biology, and bacterial metabolic processes, in which each individual element obeys a relatively simple hysteresis law (a non-ideal relay). Assuming that hysteresis thresholds fluctuate, we consider the arising reaction-diffusion system. In this case, the spatial variable corresponds to the hysteresis threshold. We describe the collective behavior of such a system in terms of the Preisach operator with time-dependent measure which is a part of the solution for the whole system. We prove the well-posedness of the system and discuss the long-term behavior of solutions.