UC Irvine

Abstract: We introduce an efficient stochastic interacting particle-field (SIPF) algorithm with no history dependence for computing aggregation patterns and near singular solutions of parabolic-parabolic Keller-Segel (KS) chemotaxis system in three-dimensional (3D) space. In our algorithm, the KS solutions are approximated as empirical measures of particles coupled with a smoother field (concentration of chemo-attractant) variable computed by a spectral method. Instead of using heat kernels that cause history dependence and high memory cost, we leverage the implicit Euler discretization to derive a one-step recursion in time for stochastic particle positions and the field variable based on the explicit Green’s function of an elliptic operator of the form Laplacian minus a positive constant. In numerical experiments, we observe that the resulting SIPF algorithm is convergent and self-adaptive to the high-gradient part of solutions. Despite the lack of analytical knowledge (such as a self-similar ansatz) of a blowup, the SIPF algorithm provides a low-cost approach to studying the emergence of finite-time blowup in 3D space using only dozens of Fourier modes and by varying the amount of initial mass and tracking the evolution of the field variable. Notably, the algorithm can handle multi-modal initial data and the subsequent complex evolution involving the merging of particle clusters and the formation of a finite time singularity with ease.