A new critical exponent for semi-linear damped wave equations with the initial data from Sobolev spaces of negative order

Abstract: In this paper, we would like to study critical exponent for semi-linear damped wave equations with power nonlinearity and initial data belonging to Sobolev spaces of negative order $\dot{H}_m^{-\gamma}$. Precisely, we obtain a new critical exponent $p_c(m,\gamma) := 1 + \frac{2m}{n+m\gamma}$ for $m \in (1, 2], \,\gamma \in \left[0, \frac{n(m-1)}{m} \right)$ by proving global (in time) existence of small data Sobolev solutions when $p \geq p_c(m,\gamma)$ and blow-up of weak solutions in finite time even for small data if $1 < p < p_c(m,\gamma)$. Additionally, the new point of this paper is the critical value $p= p_c(m,\gamma)$ belongs to the global existence range. Furthermore, we are going to provide lifespan estimates for solutions when the blow-up phenomenon occurs.