Local and global existence of solutions of a Keller-Segel model coupled to the incompressible fluid equations

We consider a Keller-Segel model coupled to the incompressible fluid equations which describes the dynamics of swimming bacteria. We mainly take the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for the fluid equation part. In this case, we first show the existence of unique local-in-time solutions for large data in scaling invariant Besov spaces. We then proceed to show that these solutions can be defined globally-in-time if some smallness conditions are imposed to initial data. We also show the existence of unique global-in-time self-similar solutions when initial data are sufficiently small in scaling invariant Besov spaces. But, these solutions do not exhibit (expected) temporal decay rates. So, we change the fluid part to the Stokes equations and we derive temporal decay rates of the bacteria density and the fluid velocity. (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This paper considers the coupling of the Keller-Segel model and the incompressible fluid equations to describe the dynamics of swimming bacteria. The existence of local-in-time solutions is proven for large data in scaling invariant Besov spaces. The paper also shows the existence of global-in-time solutions when smallness conditions are imposed to initial data. The authors further derive temporal decay rates of the bacteria density and the fluid velocity by changing the fluid part to the Stokes equations.