The role of non-linear diffusion in non-simultaneous blow-up

We study a parabolic system of two non-linear reaction-diffusion equations completely coupled through source terms and with power-like diffusivity. Under adequate hypotheses on the initial data, we prove that non-simultaneous blow-up is sometimes possible; i.e., one of the components blows up while the other remains bounded. The conditions for non-simultaneous blow-up rely strongly on the diffusivity parameters and significant differences appear between the fast-diffusion and the porous medium case. Surprisingly, flat (homogeneous in space) solutions are not always a good guide to determine whether non-simultaneous blow-up is possible.