Optimal waiting time bounds for some flux-saturated diffusion equations

Abstract

We consider the Cauchy problem for two prototypes of flux-saturated diffusion equations. In arbitrary space dimension, we give an optimal condition on the growth of the initial datum which discriminates between occurrence or nonoccurrence of a waiting time phenomenon. We also prove optimal upper bounds on the waiting time. Our argument is based on the introduction of suitable families of subsolutions and on a comparison result for a general class of flux-saturated diffusion equations.