Vanishing corrections for the position in a linear model of FKPP fronts

Abstract

Take the linearised FKPP equation \[\partial_t h =\partial^2_x h +h\] with boundary condition $h(m(t),t)=0$. Depending on the behaviour of the initial condition $h_0(x)=h(x,0)$ we obtain the asymptotics - up to a $o(1)$ term $r(t)$ - of the absorbing boundary $m(t)$ such that $\omega(x):=\lim_t h(x+m(t) ,t)$ exists and is non-trivial. In particular, as in Bramson's results for the non-linear FKPP equation, we recover the celebrated $-(3/2)\log t$ correction for initial conditions decaying faster than $x^\nu e^{-x}$ for some $\nu<-2$. Furthermore, when we are in this regime, the main result of the present work is the identification (to first order) of the $r(t)$ term which ensures the fastest convergence to $\omega(x)$. When $h_0(x)$ decays faster than $x^\nu e^{-x}$ for some $\nu<-3$, we show that $r(t)$ must be chosen to be $-3\sqrt{\pi/t}$ which is precisely the term predicted heuristically by Ebert-van Saarloos in the non-linear case. When the initial condition decays as $x^\nu e^{-x}$ for some $\nu \in [-3,-2)$, we show that even though we are still in the regime where Bramson's correction is $-(3/2)\log t$, the Ebert-van Saarloos correction has to be modified. Similar results were recently obtained by Henderson using an analytical approach and only for compactly supported initial conditions.