Self-similar solutions to coagulation equations with time-dependent tails: the case of homogeneity one

Abstract

We prove the existence of a one-parameter family of self-similar solutions with time dependent tails for Smoluchowski's coagulation equation, for a class of kernels $K(x,y)$ which are homogeneous of degree one and satisfy $K(x,1)\to k_0>0$ as $x\to 0$. In particular, we establish the existence of a critical ${\rho }_{\ast }>0$ with the property that for all $\rho \in (0,{\rho }_{\ast })$ there is a positive and differentiable self-similar solution with finite mass $M$ and decay $A(t)x^{-(2+\rho )}$ as $x\to \infty$, with $A(t)=e^{M(1+\rho )t}$. Furthermore, we show that (weak) self-similar solutions in the class of positive measures cannot exist for large values of the parameter $\rho$.