Electronic Journal of Differential Equations, Vol. 2015 (2015), No. 37, pp. 1–15. ISSN: 1072-6691. URL: http://ejde.math.txstate.edu or http://ejde.math.unt.edu ftp ejde.math.txstate.edu DYNAMICS OF THE p-LAPLACIAN EQUATIONS WITH NONLINEAR DYNAMIC BOUNDARY CONDITIONS XIYOU CHENG, LEI WEI Abstract. In this article, we study the long-time behavior of the p-Laplacian equation with nonlinear dynamic boundary conditions for both autonomous and non-autonomous cases. For the autonomous case, some asymptotic regularity of solutions is proved. For the non-autonomous case, we obtain the existence and structure of a compact uniform attractor in Lr1 (Ω) × Lr (Γ) (r = min(r1 , r2 )). 1. Introduction In this article, we consider the asymptotic behavior of solutions of the following p-Laplacian equations with nonlinear dynamic boundary conditions: ut − ∆p u + f (u) = h(x, t), ut + |∇u| p−2 in Ω, ∂n u + g(u) = 0, on Γ, (1.1) where Ω is a bounded domain in RN (N > 3) with a smooth boundary Γ, ∆p denotes the p-Laplacian operator, which is defined as ∆p u = div(|∇u|p−2 ∇u), p > 2, and about the external forcing h(x, t), we consider two cases: the autonomous case 0 h(x, t) = h(x) ∈ Lr1 (Ω), where r10 is conjugate to r1 , and the non-autonomous case h(x, t), which will be given later in Sections 3 and 4 respectively. The functions f and g ∈ C 1 (R, R), satisfy the following conditions: C1 |s|r1 − k1 ≤ f (s)s ≤ C2 |s|r1 + k2 , r2 C3 |s| − k3 ≤ g(s)s ≤ C4 |s| 0 0 f (s) ≥ −l, r2 + k4 , g (s) ≥ −m, r1 ≥ p, (1.2) r2 ≥ 2, (1.3) (1.4) here l, m > 0, Ci , ki > 0, i = 1, 2, 3, 4. In the case p = 2, the problem (1.1) is a general reaction-diffusion equation, the dynamical behavior have been studied in [3, 4, 8, 22, 25, 26, 27, 31] for the Dirichlet boundary conditions and [10, 11, 14, 15, 28, 29] for the dynamic boundary conditions. The long-time behavior of the solutions of (1.1) has been considered by many researchers, e.g., see [3, 4, 8, 27] and the references therein. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification. 37L05, 35B40, 35B41. Key words and phrases. p-Laplacian equation; boundary condition; asymptotic regularity; attractor. c 2015 Texas State University - San Marcos. Submitted May 6, 2014. Published February 10, 2015. 1 2 X. CHENG, L. WEI EJDE-2015/37 For the autonomous systems; i.e., h(x, t) = h(x), in the Dirichlet boundary case, the nonlinear eigenvalue problem for the p-Laplacian operator was considered in [18] by using the Ljusternik-Schnirelman principle. In [3], Babin & Vishik established the existence of a (L2 (Ω), (W01, p (Ω) ∩ Lq (Ω))w )-global attractor. In [27], a special case of f = ku was discussed by Temam. In [5], Carvalho, Cholewa and Dlotko considered the existence of global attractors for problems with monotone operators, and as an application, they proved the existence of (L2 (Ω), L2 (Ω))-global attractor for p-Laplacian equation, see also Cholewa & Dlotko [8]. In [6], Carvalho & Gentile obtained that the corresponding semigroup has a (L2 (Ω), W01, p (Ω))-global attractor under some additional conditions. In [30], Yang, Sun and Zhong obtained the existence of a (L2 (Ω), W01, p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω))-global attractor, which holds only under the assumptions (1.2) and (1.4). Some asymptotic regularity of the solutions was proved by Liu, Yang and Zhong in [20]. In the dynamic boundary case, recently, Gal et al [16, 17] presented firstly the general result for the problem (1.1), the well-posedness and the asymptotic behavior of the solutions were studied. Inspired by the ideas of [20, 26, 29], we obtain the asymptotic regularity of the solutions of equation (1.1), where we only assume the external forcing h(x) ∈ 0 Lr1 (Ω), r10 is conjugate to r1 . As a direct application of the asymptotic regularity results, we can obtain the existence of a global attractor in (W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω)) × (W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 (Γ)) immediately. Moreover, we also can show further that the global attractor attracts every L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ)-bounded subset with (W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 +δ (Ω)) × (W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 +γ (Γ))-norm for any δ, γ ∈ [0, ∞). For the non-autonomous systems, in the Dirichlet boundary case, the existence of the (L2 (Ω), W01,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω))-uniform attractor was proved by Chen and Zhong in [7]. However, for the nonlinear dynamic boundary conditions, the non-autonomous p-Laplacian equation is less considered. In this article, we obtain the existence and structure of a compactly uniform attractor in Lr1 (Ω) × Lr (Γ) (r = min(r1 , r2 )), which holds only under the assumptions (1.2)–(1.4), and no any restrictions on p, r1 , r2 and N . The main results of this article are Theorem 3.4 (asymptotic regularity), Theorem 3.5 (global attractor) and Theorem 4.5 (uniform attractor and its structure). Hereafter, we assume that 2 < p < N. For the case p = 2, system (1.1) is a reaction-diffusion equation and we refer the reader to [15, 28]; and if p > N , then embeddings W 1,p (Ω) ,→ Ls1 (Ω) and W 1,p (Ω) ,→ Ls2 (Γ) hold for any s1 , s2 ∈ [1, ∞), which make the nonlinear terms f (·) and g(·) to be trivial terms. For convenience, hereafter k · k and k · kΓ stand for the norm in L2 (Ω) and L2 (Γ), h·, ·i and h·, ·iΓ stand for the inner product in L2 (Ω) and L2 (Γ), respectively. C, Ci denote general positive constants, i = 1, . . . , which will be different in different estimates. This article is organized as follows: in Section 2, we introduce some preliminary results; in Section 3, for the autonomous cases, i.e., h(x, t) = h(x), we prove some asymptotic regularity of the solution; in Section 4, for the non-autonomous cases, the existence and structure of a uniform attractor in Lr1 (Ω) × Lr (Γ) (r = min(r1 , r2 )) is obtained. EJDE-2015/37 DYNAMICS OF THE p-LAPLACIAN EQUATIONS 3 2. Preliminaries In this section, we give some auxiliary results which will be used later. We first introduce the spaces of time-dependent external forcing h(x, t) to be considered in this article (see[4]). Definition 2.1 ([4]). A function ϕ is said to be translation bounded in L2loc (R; X), if Z t+1 kϕk2b = sup kϕk2X ds < +∞. t∈R Denote by L2b (R; X) t the set of all translation bounded functions in L2loc (R; X). We now introduce a class of functions that was defined first in [21]. Definition 2.2 ([21]). A function ϕ ∈ L2loc (R; X) is said to be normal if for any ε > 0, there exists η > 0 such that Z t+η sup kϕk2X ds ≤ ε. t∈R t Denote by L2n (R; X) the set of all normal functions in L2loc (R; X). Lemma 2.3 ([21]). If ϕ0 ∈ L2n (R; X), then for any τ ∈ R, Z t lim sup e−γ(t−s) kϕ(s)k2X ds = 0, γ→∞ t≥τ τ uniformly (with respect to ϕ ∈ H(ϕ0 )), where H(ϕ0 ) = {ϕ0 (t + h) | h ∈ R} . The next result is an estimate of the p-Laplacian operator; see [9] for the proof. Lemma 2.4. Let p > 2. Then there exists constant K > 0 such that for any a, b ∈ RN , h|a|p−2 a − |b|p−2 b, a − bi > K|a − b|p , (2.1) where K depends only on p and N ; h·, ·i denotes the inner product of RN . 3. Autonomous cases: h(x, t) = h(x) In this section, we consider the autonomous case of (1.1); that is, ut − ∆p u + f (u) = h(x), ut + |∇u| p−2 ∂n u + g(u) = 0, in Ω, on Γ, (3.1) u(x, 0) = u0 (x), 0 where h(x) ∈ Lr1 (Ω), r10 is conjugate to r1 . 3.1. Mathematical setting. At first, following [17], it is more convenient to introduce the unknown function v(t) := u(t)|Γ , defined on the boundary Γ, so we think of our problem as a coupled system of two parabolic equations, one in the bulk Ω and the other on the boundary Γ. Thus, the function u(t) tracks diffusion in the bulk, while v(t) records the information on the boundary. Throughout the remainder of this section, we formulate the problem as following: 4 X. CHENG, L. WEI EJDE-2015/37 Problem (P). Let Ω ⊂ RN (N ≥ 3) be a bounded domain with a smooth boundary Γ := ∂Ω (e.g., of class C 2 ). The nonlinearities f and g satisfy (1.2)–(1.4). For any given pair of initial data (u0 , v0 ) ∈ L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), find (u(t), v(t)) with (u, v) ∈ C([0, +∞); L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ)) ∩ L∞ ((0, +∞); W 1,p (Ω) × W 1−1/p,p (Γ)), 1,2 (u, v) ∈ Wloc ((0, ∞); L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ)), u ∈ Lploc ([0, +∞); W 1,p (Ω)), v ∈ Lploc ([0, +∞); W 1−1/p,p (Γ)) (3.2) such that (u(0), v(0)) = (u0 , v0 ), and for almost all t ≥ 0, (u(t), v(t)) satisfies u(t)|Γ = v(t) a.e. for t ∈ (0, ∞), and the following partial differential equations: ∂t u − div(|∇u|p−2 ∇u) + f (u) = h(x), ∂t v + |∇u| p−2 ∂n u + g(v) = 0, in Ω × (0, +∞), on Γ × (0, +∞). (3.3) Secondly, we give the following existence and uniqueness results, where we use the definition of weak solution as in [17, Definition 2.3]. For more details we refer the reader to [17]. Theorem 3.1 ([17]). Let Ω be a bounded smooth domain in RN (N > 3), f and 0 g satisfy (1.2)–(1.4), h(x) ∈ Lr1 (Ω). Then for any initial data (u0 , v0 ) ∈ L2 (Ω) × 2 L (Γ) and any T > 0, the problem (P) has a unique weak solution (u(t), v(t)) ∈ C([0, T ]; L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ)). In addition to the regularity stated in (3.2), we also have that u(t) ∈ Lr1 (0, T ; Lr1 (Ω)), v(t) ∈ Lr2 (0, T ; Lr2 (Γ)). Furthermore, (u0 , v0 ) 7→ (u(t), v(t)) is continuous on L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ). By Theorem 2.3, we can define the operator semigroup {S(t)}t>0 on the phase space L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ) as follows: S(t) : L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ) → L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), S(t)(u0 , v0 ) = (u(t), v(t)), (3.4) which is continuous in L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ). Next, exactly as in [17], we have the following dissipative results. Lemma 3.2 ([17]). Under the assumption of Theorem 2.3, {S(t)}t>0 has a positively invariant (L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω) × W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 (Γ))-bounded absorbing set; that is, there is a positive constant M , such that for any bounded subset B ⊂ L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), there exists a positive constant T which depends only on the L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ)-norm of B such that Z Z Z |∇u(t)|p dx+ |u(t)|r1 dx+ |v(t)|r2 dS 6 M for all t > T and (u0 , v0 ) ∈ B. Ω Ω Γ Lemma 3.3 ([17]). Under the assumption of Theorem 2.3, for any bounded subset B ⊂ L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), there exists a positive constant T1 which depends only on the L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ)-norm of B such that Z Z |ut (s)|2 dx + |vt (s)|2 dS 6 M 0 for all s > T1 and (u0 , v0 ) ∈ B, (3.5) Ω Γ 0 where M is a positive constant which depends on M . EJDE-2015/37 DYNAMICS OF THE p-LAPLACIAN EQUATIONS 5 Hereafter, from Lemma 3.2, we denote one of the positively invariant absorbing set by B0 with B0 ⊂ {(u(t), v(t)) : ku(t)kW 1,p (Ω)∩Lr1 (Ω) + kv(t)kW 1−1/p,p (Γ)∩Lr2 (Γ) 6 M }, note that here the positive invariance means S(t)B0 ⊂ B0 for any t > 0. 3.2. Asymptotic regularity. In this subsection, we consider the asymptotic regularity of solutions of systems (3.1), which excel the regularity allowed by the corresponding elliptic equation. At first, we consider the elliptic equation − div(|∇φ|p−2 ∇φ) + f (φ) = h(x) |∇φ| p−2 ∂n φ + g(φ) = 0 in Ω, (3.6) on Γ. Due to the assumptions (1.2)–(1.4), from the classical results about elliptic equations, we know that (3.6) at least has one solution φ(x) with φ(x) ∈ W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω). (3.7) For the rest of this article, we assume that φ(x) denotes a fixed solution of (3.6). Then, for the solution (u(x, t), v(x, t)) of (3.1), we decompose (u(x, t), v(x, t)) as follows (u(x, t), v(x, t)) = (φ(x) + w(x, t), φ(x) + w(x, e t)) (3.8) with u0 (x) = φ(x) + w(x, 0), v0 (x) = φ(x) + w(x, e 0), where (w(x, t), w(x, e t)) solves the equation wt − div(|∇u|p−2 ∇u) + div(|∇φ|p−2 ∇φ) + f (u) − f (φ) = 0 w et + |∇u|p−2 ∂n u − |∇φ|p−2 ∂n φ + g(v) − g(φ) = 0, in Ω, on Γ, w(x, e t) := w(x, t)|Γ , (3.9) w(x, 0) = u0 (x) − φ(x), w(x, e 0) = v0 (x) − φ(x). It is easy to see that this equation is also globally well posed. Moreover, thanks to Lemma 3.2, without loss of generality, hereafter we assume (u0 , v0 ) ∈ B0 and so (w(x, 0), w(x, e 0)) ∈ (W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω)) × (W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 (Γ)). At the same time, from the positive invariance of B0 and (3.7) we have that kw(x, t)kW 1,p (Ω)∩Lr1 (Ω) + kw(x, e t)kW 1−1/p,p (Γ)∩Lr2 (Γ) 6 M1 (3.10) for all t > 0, with some positive constant M1 . The main result of this section reads as follows. Theorem 3.4. Let Ω be a bounded smooth domain in RN (N > 3), f and g satisfy 0 (1.2)–(1.4), h(x) ∈ Lr1 (Ω), and suppose that {S(t)}t≥0 is the semigroup generated by the solutions of equation (3.1) with initial data (u0 , v0 ) ∈ L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ). Then, for any δ, γ ∈ [0, ∞), there exists a bounded subset Bδ,γ satisfying the following properties: n Bδ,γ = (w, w) e : kwkW 1,p (Ω)∩Lr1 +δ (Ω) o + kwk e W 1−1/p,p (Γ)∩Lr2 +γ (Γ) 6 Λp,r1 ,r2 ,N,δ,γ < ∞ , and for any bounded subset B ⊂ L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), there exists a T = T (kBkL2 (Ω) , kBkL2 (Γ) , δ, γ) 6 X. CHENG, L. WEI EJDE-2015/37 such that S(t)B ⊂ φ(x) + Bδ,γ for all t > T, (3.11) where φ(x) is a fixed solution of (3.6), (w(x, t), w(x, e t)) satisfies (3.9); the constant Λp,r1 ,r2 ,N,δ,γ depends only on p, r1 , r2 , N, δ, γ. Proof. We use the Moser-Alikakos iteration technique [2] to prove the following induction estimates about the solution of (3.9). For clarity, we separate our proof into two steps. Step 1 : We first claim that For each k = 0, 1, 2, . . . , there exist two positive constants Tk and Mk , which depend only on k, p, r1 , r2 , N and kB0 kW 1,p (Ω)∩Lr1 (Ω)×W 1−1/p,p (Γ)∩Lr2 (Γ) , such that for any (u0 , v0 ) ∈ B0 and t > Tk , we have Z Z |w(t)|σk dx + |w(t)| e σk dS 6 Mk , (Ak ) Ω and Z t+1 t Z |w(s)|σk+1 dx Γ −p N N −1 Z t Ω t+1 Z ds + Γ σk+1 |w(s)| e dS −p N N −1 ds 6 Mk . (Bk ) where (w(t), w(t)) e is the solution of equation (3.9), and σk = 2( k X N −1 i N −1 k ) + (p − 2) ( ) −1 , N −p N − p i=0 k = 0, 1, 2, . . . . (3.12) (i) Initialization of the induction (k = 0). From (3.10), we can deduce (A0 ) immediately. To prove (B0 ), we multiply (3.9) by w and w, e and integrate over Ω, then we obtain Z Z Z 1 d 1 d |w|2 dx + |w| e 2 dS + h|∇u|p−2 ∇u − |∇φ|p−2 ∇φ, ∇wi dx 2 dt Ω 2 dt Γ Ω Z Z (3.13) + (f (u) − f (φ))w dx + (g(v) − g(φ))w e dS = 0. Ω Γ By (1.4), we have Z Z (f (u) − f (φ))w dx > −l Ω (3.14) |w| e 2 dS. (3.15) Ω Z Z Γ |w|2 dx, (g(v) − g(φ))w e dS > −m Γ Then applying Lemma 2.4, we have Z Z h|∇u|p−2 ∇u − |∇φ|p−2 ∇φ, ∇wi dx > K |∇w|p dx. Ω (3.16) Ω Inserting (3.14)–(3.16) into (3.13), we obtain Z Z Z 1 d 1 d |w|2 dx + |w| e 2 dS + K |∇w|p dx 2 dt Ω 2 dt Γ Ω Z Z 2 2 6l |w| dx + m |w| e dS Ω Z ZΓ 6C |w|2 dx + |w| e 2 dS . Ω Γ (3.17) EJDE-2015/37 DYNAMICS OF THE p-LAPLACIAN EQUATIONS 7 Then, for any t > 0, integrating the above inequality over [t, t + 1] and using (3.10), we deduce that Z t+1 Z |∇w(x, s)|p dx ds 6 CK,M,M1 for all t > 0. (3.18) t Ω By the Sobolev embeddings (e.g., see Adams and Fourier [1]) W 1,p (Ω) ,→ L p(N −1) N −p W 1,p (Ω) ,→ L (Ω), p(N −1) N −p (Γ), from (3.18), for all t > 0, we have Z t+1 Z N −p p(N −1) |w(x, s)| N −p dx N −1 ds t Ω t+1 Z p |∇w(x, s)| dx ds 6 CK,M,M1 ,N , 6 C1 Ω t Z (3.19) Z t+1 Z |w(x, e s)| t Z Γ t+1 p(N −1) N −p dS −p N N −1 ds (3.20) Z p |∇w(x, s)| dx ds 6 CK,M,M1 ,N , 6 C2 t Ω where C1 , C2 are constants of embeddings W 1,p (Ω) ,→ L p(N −1) N −p (Ω) and W 1,p (Ω) ,→ p(N −1) N −p L (Γ), note that here C1 , C2 depend only on N . This implies (B0 ) holds. (ii) The induction argument. We now assume that (Ak ) and (Bk ) hold for k > 1, and we need only to prove that (Ak+1 ) and (Bk+1 ) hold. Multiplying (3.9) by e and integrating over Ω, we obtain |w|σk+1 −2 w and |w| e σk+1 −2 w, Z Z 1 d σk+1 |w| dx + |w| e σk+1 dS σk+1 dt Ω Γ Z p−2 + (σk+1 − 1) h|∇u| ∇u − |∇φ|p−2 ∇φ, ∇wi|w|σk+1 −2 dx (3.21) Ω Z Z σ −2 + f (u) − f (φ) |w|σk+1 −2 w dx + g(v) − g(φ) |w| e k+1 w e dS = 0. Ω Γ Similar to (3.14)–(3.16), we have Z Z f (u) − f (φ) |w|σk+1 −2 w dx > −l |w|σk+1 dx, ZΩ ZΩ σk+1 −2 (g(v) − g(φ))|w| e w e dS > −m |w| e σk+1 dS, Γ Γ Z (σk+1 − 1) h|∇u|p−2 ∇u − |∇φ|p−2 ∇φ, ∇wi|w|σk+1 −2 dx Ω Z > K(σk+1 − 1) |∇w|p |w|σk+1 −2 dx, (3.22) (3.23) (3.24) Ω so we have Z Z Z 1 d e σk+1 dS + K(σk+1 − 1) |∇w|p |w|σk+1 −2 dx |w|σk+1 dx + |w| σk+1 dt Ω Γ Ω Z Z Z Z σk+1 σk+1 σk+1 6l |w| dx + m |w| e dS 6 C |w| dx + |w| e σk+1 dS . Ω Γ Ω Γ (3.25) 8 X. CHENG, L. WEI EJDE-2015/37 Then, combining with (Bk ) and application of the uniform Gronwall lemma to (3.25) we can get (Ak+1 ) immediately. For (Bk+1 ), we integrate the above inequality over [t, t + 1] and use (Ak+1 ), we have Z t+1 Z |∇w|p |w|σk+1 −2 dx ds 6 Mk+1 for all t > 0, (3.26) t Ω where Mk+1 depends on k, p, r1 , r2 , N, M, M1 . By the embeddings W 1,p (Ω) ,→ L p(N −1) N −p p(N −1) (Ω) and W 1,p (Ω) ,→ L N −p (Γ) again, we have −p N Z N −1 N −1 |w|(σk+1 −2+p) N −p dx Ω Z p p 6 C1 · |w|σk+1 −2 |∇w|p dx, σk+1 − 2 + p Ω −p N Z N −1 N −1 |w| e (σk+1 −2+p) N −p dS Γ Z p p 6 C2 · |w|σk+1 −2 |∇w|p dx, σk+1 − 2 + p Ω (3.27) (3.28) and from the definition of σk , we have (σk+1 − 2 + p) N −1 = σk+2 . N −p (3.29) Combining (3.26)–(3.29), we deduce (Bk+1 ) immediately. Step 2 : Based on Step 1, since N > 3, from the definition of σk given in (3.12), it is easy to see that σk → ∞ as k → ∞. Hence, for any δ, γ ∈ [0, ∞), we can take k so large that r1 + δ 6 σk , r2 + γ 6 σk . Consequently, we can define Bδ,γ as n Bδ,γ := (z, z̃) : kz + φkpW 1,p (Ω) + kzkrL1r+δ 1 +δ (Ω) o p r2 +γ + kz̃ + φkW 1−1/p,p (Γ) + kz̃kLr2 +γ (Γ) 6 M + Mk , where z(t)|Γ = z̃(t), and recall that φ(x) is a fixed solution of (3.6). Hence, from Theorem 3.4, using the interpolation inequality, we can obtain immediately the following results. Theorem 3.5. Under the assumptions of Theorem 3.4, the semigroup {S(t)}t>0 has a (L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω) × W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 (Γ))-global attractor A . Moreover, A attracts every L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ)-bounded subset with (W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 +δ (Ω)) × (W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 +γ (Γ))-norm for any δ, γ ∈ [0, ∞); and A allows the decomposition A = φ(x) + A0 with A0 is bounded in (W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 +δ (Ω)) × (W 1−1/p,p (Γ)∩Lr2 +γ (Γ)) for any δ, γ ∈ [0, ∞), and φ(x) is a fixed solution of (3.6). Proof. From Theorem 3.4, combining with the (L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ))asymptotic compactness (obtained in [17]) and the interpolation inequality, it is easily to verify that {S(t)}t>0 is asymptotically compact in Lr1 (Ω) × Lr2 (Γ), then it is sufficient to verify that {S(t)}t>0 is asymptotically compact in W 1,p (Ω) × W 1−1/p,p (Γ). EJDE-2015/37 DYNAMICS OF THE p-LAPLACIAN EQUATIONS 9 Let B0 be a (W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω)) × (W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 (Γ))-bounded absorbing set obtained in Lemma 3.2, then we need only to show that for any {(u0n , v0n )} ⊂ B0 and tn → ∞, {(un (tn ), vn (tn ))}∞ n=1 is precompact in W 1,p (Ω) × W 1−1/p,p (Γ), (3.30) where un (tn ) = S(tn )u0n , vn (tn ) = S(tn )v0n . 2 2 In fact, we know that {(un (tn ), vn (tn ))}∞ n=1 is precompact in L (Ω) × L (Γ) and r1 r2 in L (Ω) × L (Γ). Without loss of generality, we assume that {(unk (tnk ), vnk (tnk ))}∞ n=1 is a Cauchy sequence in L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ) and Lr1 (Ω) × Lr2 (Γ). 1,p Now, we prove that {(unk (tnk ), vnk (tnk ))}∞ (Ω)× n=1 is a Cauchy sequence in W 1−1/p,p W (Γ). From Lemma 2.4, and after standard transformations, we know that there exists a constant K > 0, such that Kk∇(unk (tnk ) − unj (tnj ))kpLp (Ω) d d ≤ − unk (tnk ) − f (unk (tnk )) + unj (tnj ) + f (unj (tnj )), unk (tnk ) − unj (tnj ) dt dt d d + − vnk (tnk ) − g(vnk (tnk )) + vnj (tnj ) + g(vnj (tnj )), vnk (tnk ) − vnj (tnj ) Γ dt dt Z d d un (tn ) − un (tn )|un (tn ) − un (tn )| ≤ j j k k k k dt j j Ω dt Z + |f (unk (tnk )) − f (unj (tnj ))||unk (tnk ) − unj (tnj )| ZΩ d d + vnk (tnk ) − vnj (tnj )|vnk (tnk ) − vnj (tnj )| dt dt ZΓ + |g(vnk (tnk )) − g(vnj (tnj ))||vnk (tnk ) − vnj (tnj )|, Γ so we have Kk∇(unk (tnk ) − unj (tnj ))kpLp (Ω) d d ≤ unk (tnk ) − unj (tnj ) kunk (tnk ) − unj (tnj )k dt dt d d vnk (tnk ) − vnj (tnj )Γ kvnk (tnk ) − vnj (tnj )kΓ + dt dt + C 1 + kunk (tnk )krL1r1 (Ω) + kunj (tnj )krL1r1 (Ω) unk (tnk ) − unj (tnj )Lr1 (Ω) r2 e 1 + kvn (tn )kr2r vn (tn ) − vnj (tnj ) r +C . k k k k L 2 (Γ) + kvnj (tnj )kLr2 (Γ) L 2 (Γ) (3.31) Combining Lemma 3.2, Lemma 3.3 and the compactness of Lr1 (Ω) × Lr2 (Γ), and since W 1,p (Ω) ,→ W 1−1/p,p (Γ), we know that the norms on W 1,p (Ω) × W 1−1/p,p (Γ) and W 1,p (Ω) are equivalent, (3.31) yields (3.30) immediately. 4. Non-autonomous case In this section, we discuss the non-autonomous case of (1.1); that is, ut − ∆p u + f (u) = h(x, t), ut + |∇u| p−2 ∂n u + g(u) = 0, u(x, τ ) = uτ (x), in Ω̄, in Ω, on Γ, (4.1) 10 X. CHENG, L. WEI EJDE-2015/37 where h(x, t) ∈ L2b (R; L2 (Ω)). 4.1. Mathematical setting. Similar to the autonomous cases (e.g., Problem (p) and Theorem 2.3), for each h ∈ Σ, we can also easily obtain the following wellposedness result and the time-dependent terms make no essential complications. Theorem 4.1 ([17]). Let Ω be a bounded smooth domain in RN (N > 3), f and g satisfy (1.2)–(1.4), h(x, t) ∈ L2b (R; L2 (Ω)). Then for any initial data (uτ , vτ ) ∈ L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), and any τ, T ∈ R, T > τ , the solution (u(t), v(t)) of problem (4.1) is globally defined and satisfies u(t) ∈ C([τ, T ]; L2 (Ω)) ∩ Lploc (τ, T ; W 1,p (Ω)) ∩ Lr1 (τ, T ; Lr1 (Ω)), v(t) ∈ C([τ, T ]; L2 (Γ)) ∩ Lploc (τ, T ; W 1−1/p,p (Γ)) ∩ Lr2 (τ, T ; Lr2 (Γ)), where v(t) := u(t)|Γ . Furthermore, (uτ , vτ ) 7→ (u(t), v(t)) is continuous on L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ). We now define the symbol space Σ for (4.1). Taking a fixed symbol σ0 (s) = 2 2 2 h0 (s), h0 (s) ∈ L2b (R; L2 (Ω)). We denote by L2,w loc (R; L (Ω)) the space Lloc (R; L (Ω)) endowed with local weak convergence topology. Set Σ0 = {h0 (s + h)| h ∈ R}, (4.2) and let 2 Σ be the closure of Σ0 in L2,w loc (R; L (Ω)). Systems (4.1) can be rewritten in the operator form ∂t y = Aσ(t) (y), y|t=τ = yτ , (4.3) (4.4) where σ(t) = h(t) is the symbol of equation (4.4). Thus, from Theorem 4.1, we know that problem (4.1) is well posed for all σ(s) ∈ Σ and generates a family of processes {Uσ (t, τ )}, σ ∈ Σ given by the formula Uσ (t, τ )yτ = y(t), and the y(t) is the solution of (4.1). 4.2. Existence of a bounded uniformly (w. r. t. σ ∈ Σ) absorbing set in (W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω)) × (W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 (Γ)). In this subsection, (W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω) × W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 (Γ))-bounded uniformly (with respect to σ ∈ Σ) absorbing set is obtained. The proof is similar to [17] (autonomous case). Theorem 4.2. Let Ω be a bounded smooth domain in RN (N > 3), f and g satisfy (1.2)–(1.4), h(x, t) ∈ L2b (R; L2 (Ω)). Then the family of processes {Uσ (t, τ )}, σ ∈ Σ corresponding to (4.1) has a bounded uniformly (with respect to σ ∈ Σ) absorbing set B0 in (W 1,p (Ω) ∩ Lr1 (Ω)) × (W 1−1/p,p (Γ) ∩ Lr2 (Γ)), that is, there is a positive constant M , such that for any τ ∈ R and any bounded subset B, there exists a positive constant T = T (B, τ ) ≥ τ such that Z Z Z |∇u(t)|p dx + |u(t)|r1 dx + |v(t)|r2 dS 6 M Ω Ω Γ for all t > T , (uτ , vτ ) ∈ B, σ ∈ Σ. Proof. Multiplying (4.1) by u and v, and integrating by parts, we obtain Z Z Z Z Z 1 d 1 d |u|2 dx + |v|2 dS + |∇u|p dx + f (u)u dx + g(v)v dS 2 dt Ω 2 dt Γ Ω Ω Γ Z (4.5) = h0 (t)u dx, Ω EJDE-2015/37 DYNAMICS OF THE p-LAPLACIAN EQUATIONS 11 combining with assumptions (1.2)–(1.4), Young’s inequality and Poincaré inequality, we obtain Z Z Z Z d d 2 2 2 |u| dx + |v| dS + C( |u| dx + |v|2 dS) dt Ω dt Γ (4.6) Ω Γ ≤ C|Ω|,S(Γ) + Ckh0 k2 . Applying the suitable version of Gronwall’s inequality to (4.6), we can find T0 > 0 and ρ0 > 0, such that ku(t)k2 + kv(t)k2Γ ≤ ρ20 , for any t ≥ T0 . (4.7) Rs Rs Let F (s) = 0 f (τ )dτ , G(s) = 0 g(τ )dτ , by assumptions (1.2)–(1.3) again, from (4.5), we obtain Z Z Z Z Z d d |u|2 dx + |v|2 dS + |∇u|p dx + C1 F (u) dx + C2 G(v) dS dt Ω dt Γ Ω Ω Γ ≤ C|Ω|,S(Γ) + Ckh0 k2 . Integrating this inequality above from t to t + 1, and combining (4.7), it follows that for any t ≥ T0 , Z t+1 Z Z Z p ( |∇u| dx + C1 F (u) dx + C2 G(v) dS)ds t Ω Ω Z Γ t+1 (4.8) kh0 k2 ds ≤ C|Ω|,S(Γ),ρ0 + C t ≤ C|Ω|,S(Γ),ρ0 ,kh0 k2b . On the other hand, multiplying (1.1) by ut and vt , we have Z Z Z Z Z d 1 d p 2 2 |∇u| dx + F (u) dx + G(v) dS |ut | dx + |vt | dS + p dt dt Ω Ω Γ Ω Γ Z Z (4.9) 1 1 2 2 ≤ |h0 | dx + |ut | dx, 2 Ω 2 Ω so we obtain Z Z Z d p ( |∇u| dx + p F (u) dx + p G(v) dS) ≤ Ckh0 k2 . dt Ω Ω Γ (4.10) Combining (4.8) and (4.10), by the uniformly Gronwall lemma, we have that for any t ≥ T0 + 1, σ ∈ Σ, Z Z Z p |∇u| dx + F (u) dx + G(v) dS ≤ C|Ω|,S(Γ),ρ0 ,khk2b , (4.11) Ω Ω Γ which implies that for any t ≥ T0 + 1, σ ∈ Σ, Z Z Z |∇u|p dx + |u|r1 dx + |v|r2 dS ≤ M, Ω Ω where M depends on |Ω|, S(Γ), ρ0 , khk2b . (4.12) Γ As a direct result of Theorem 4.2, we have the existence of a uniform attractor in L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ): 12 X. CHENG, L. WEI EJDE-2015/37 Corollary 4.3. Under the assumptions of Theorem 4.2, the family of processes {Uσ (t, τ )}, σ ∈ Σ corresponding to (4.1) has a uniform attractor AΣ in L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ) , which is compact in L2 (Ω)×L2 (Γ) and attracts every L2 (Ω)×L2 (Γ)-bounded subset with L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ)-norm. Moreover, AΣ = ω0,Σ (B0 ) = ∪σ∈Σ Kσ (s), ∀ s ∈ R, where Kσ (s) is the section at t = s of the kernel Kσ of the process {Uσ (t, τ )} with symbol σ. Proof. Theorem 4.2 and the Sobolev compactness imbedding theorem imply the existence of a uniform attractor AΣ in L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ) immediately. 4.3. Existence of a uniform attractor in Lr1 (Ω) × Lr (Γ) (r = min(r1 , r2 )). First, we give some a priori estimates for the solution of (4.1) to verify the uniformly asymptotic compactness in Lr1 (Ω) × Lr1 (Γ). The idea of the proof comes from [31]. Theorem 4.4. Assume that h(t) is normal in L2loc (R; L2 (Ω)), f and g satisfy (1.2)– (1.3). Then for any ε > 0, τ ∈ R and any bounded subset B ⊂ L2 (Ω) × L2 (Γ), there exist two positive constants T = T (B, ε, τ ) and M = M (ε), such that Z r1 |Uσ (t, τ )uτ | Z |Uσ (t, τ )vτ |r1 ≤ ε, + Ω(|Uσ (t,τ )uτ |≥M ) Γ(|Uσ (t,τ )vτ |≥M ) for all t ≥ T , (uτ , vτ ) ∈ B, σ ∈ Σ. r1 −1 Proof. We multiply (4.1) by (u − M )r+1 −1 and (v − M )+ , and integrate over Ω, then we have Z Z 1 d 1 d r1 |u − M | dx + |v − M |r1 dS r1 dt Ω(u≥M ) r1 dt Γ(v≥M ) Z Z r1 −2 p + (r1 − 1) (u − M ) |∇u| dx + f (u)(u − M )r1 −1 dx Ω(u≥M ) Ω(u≥M ) Z (4.13) + g(v)(v − M )r1 −1 dS Γ(v≥M ) Z = h0 (t)(u − M )r1 −1 dx, Ω(u≥M ) where (u − M )+ denotes the positive part of (u − M ); that is, ( (u − M )+ = u − M, u ≥ M, 0, u ≤ M. From conditions (1.2)–(1.3), we can take M large enough such that C3 |v|r2 −1 ≤ g(v), r1 −1 C4 |u| ≤ f (u), in Γ(v(t) ≥ M ), in Ω(u(t) ≥ M ). EJDE-2015/37 DYNAMICS OF THE p-LAPLACIAN EQUATIONS 13 Let Ω1 = Ω(u(t) ≥ M ), Γ1 = Γ(v(t) ≥ M ), using Young’s inequality and the inequalities above, we obtain Z Z 1 d 1 d |u − M |r1 dx + |v − M |r1 dS r1 dt Ω1 r1 dt Γ1 Z + (r1 − 1) (u − M )r1 −2 |∇u|p dx Ω1 Z Z (4.14) + C4 |u|r1 −1 (u − M )r1 −1 dx + C3 |v|r2 −1 (v − M )r1 −1 dS Γ1 ZΩ1 Z 1 C4 |u − M |2r1 −2 dx + |h0 (t)|2 dx, ≤ 2 Ω1 2C4 Ω1 so we have Z 1 d |u − M |r1 dx + |v − M |r1 dS r dt 1 Ω1 Γ1 Z r1 −2 p + (r1 − 1) (u − M ) |∇u| dx 1 d r1 dt Z Ω1 r1 −2 Z Z C4 M |u − M |r1 dx + C3 M r2 −2 |v − M |r1 dS 2 Ω1 Γ1 Z 1 2 |h0 (t)| dx. ≤ 2C4 Ω1 + By using the Gronwall lemma and together with the Lemma 2.3, we can choose M large enough, such that Z Z |u − M |r1 dx + |v − M |r1 dS ≤ ε. (4.15) Ω1 Γ1 Noting that Z Z 1 r1 |u| dx ≤ |u − M |r1 dx, 2r1 Ω(u≥2M ) Ω(u≥M ) Z Z 1 r1 |v| dS ≤ |v − M |r1 dS, 2r1 Γ(v≥2M ) Γ(v≥M ) combining (4.15)–(4.17), we obtain Z Z |u(t)|r1 dx + Ω(u≥2M ) |v(t)|r1 dS ≤ 2r1 ε. (4.16) (4.17) (4.18) Γ(v≥2M ) r1 −1 r1 −1 Repeating the same steps above, just taking (u + M )− instead of (u − M )+ , r1 −1 (v + M )r−1 −1 instead of (v − M )+ , we deduce that Z Z |u(t)|r1 dx + |v(t)|r1 dS ≤ 2r1 ε. (4.19) Ω(u≤−2M ) Γ(v≤−2M ) Combining (4.18)–(4.19), we obtain Z Z r1 |u(t)| dx + Ω(|u(t)|≥2M ) |v(t)|r1 dS ≤ 2r1 ε. (4.20) Γ(|v(t)|≥2M ) Now we state the existence and structure of a uniform attractor in Lr1 (Ω)×Lr (Γ) (r = min(r1 , r2 )). 14 X. CHENG, L. WEI EJDE-2015/37 Theorem 4.5. Assume that h(t) is normal in L2loc (R; L2 (Ω)), f and g satisfy (1.2)–(1.4). Then the family of processes {Uσ (t, τ )}, σ ∈ Σ corresponding to (4.1) has a compact uniform (with respect to σ ∈ Σ) attractor AΣ in Lr1 (Ω) × Lr (Γ) (r = min(r1 , r2 )) and AΣ satisfies AΣ = ω0,Σ (B0 ) = ∪σ∈Σ Kσ (s), ∀s ∈ R, where Kσ (s) is the section at t = s of the kernel Kσ of the process {Uσ (t, τ )} with symbol σ. Proof. 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[31] C. K. Zhong, M. H. Yang, C. Y. Sun; The existence of global attractors for the norm-toweak continuous semigroup and application to the nonlinear reaction-diffusion equations, J. Differential Equations, 223 (2006), 367-399. Xiyou Cheng School of Mathematics and Statistics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. Key Laboratory of Applied Mathematics and Complex Systems, Gansu Province, China E-mail address: chengxy@lzu.edu.cn Lei Wei (corresponding author) School of Mathematics and Statistics, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China E-mail address: wlxznu@163.com