On the first bifurcation point for a free boundary problem modeling a small arterial plaque

When plaques block the arteries, atherosclerosis occurs. Severe atherosclerosis would result in fatal cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, heart attack, coronary artery disease, or peripheral artery disease; these are leading causes of death in the world. In the paper, we investigate a free boundary PDE model to describe the formation of an arterial plaque in the early stage of atherosclerosis. The bifurcation analysis is carried out for the model. In particular, we establish the first bifurcation point for the system corresponding to the n=1 mode. The symmetry-breaking stationary solution studied in this paper can be helpful in understanding why there exists arterial plaque that is often accumulated more on one side of the artery than the other.

Automated summary

This paper investigates a free boundary PDE model to describe the formation of arterial plaque in the early stage of atherosclerosis, and conducts bifurcation analysis to establish the first bifurcation point corresponding to the n=1 mode. The study of symmetry-breaking stationary solutions in the paper helps to understand why arterial plaque is often accumulated more on one side of the artery.