Stationary Ring and Concentric-Ring Solutions of the Keller-Segel Model with Quadratic Diffusion

Abstract: This paper investigates the Keller-Segel model with quadratic cellular diffusion over a disk in $\mathbb R^2$ with a focus on the formation of its nontrivial patterns. We obtain explicit formulas of radially symmetric stationary solutions and such configurations give rise to the ring patterns and concentric airy patterns. These explicit formulas empower us to study the global bifurcation and asymptotic behaviors of these solutions, within which the cell population density has $\delta$-type spiky structures when the chemotaxis rate is large. The explicit formulas are also used to study the uniqueness and quantitative properties of nontrivial stationary radial patterns ruled by several threshold phenomena determined by the chemotaxis rate. We find that all nonconstant radial stationary solutions must have the cellular density compactly supported unless for a discrete sequence of bifurcation values at which there exist strictly positive small-amplitude solutions. The hierarchy of free energy shows that in the radial class the inner ring solution has the least energy while the constant solution has the largest energy, and all these theoretical results are illustrated through bifurcation diagrams. A natural extension of our results to $\mathbb R^2$ yields the existence, uniqueness and closed-form solution of the problem in this whole space. Our results are complemented by numerical simulations that demonstrate the existence of non-radial stationary solutions in the disk.