A priori bounds and global existence of solutions of the steady-state Sel'kov model

Abstract

We consider the system of reaction-diffusion equations known as the Sel'kov model. This model has been applied to various problems in chemistry and biology. We obtain a priori bounds on the size of the positive steady-state solutions of the system defined on bounded domains in Rn, 1 ≤ n ≤ 3 (this is the physically relevant case). Previously, such bounds had been obtained in the case n = 1 under more restrictive hypotheses. We also obtain regularity results on the smoothness of such solutions and show that non-trivial solutions exist for a wide range of parameter values.