A Study of the Diffusion Equation with Increase in the Amount of Substance, and its Application to a Biological Problem

For the sake of simplicity we consider the two-dimensional diffusion equation $$\frac{{\partial v}}{{dt}} = k\left( {\frac{{{{\partial }^{2}}v}}{{\partial {{x}^{2}}}} + \frac{{{{\partial }^{2}}v}}{{\partial {{y}^{2}}}}} \right),k > 0$$ (1) where r and y are the coordinates of a point in the plane, t is time and v is the density of substance at the point (r, y) at time t. We now assume that diffusion is accompanied by increase in the amount of substance at a rate which depends on the density at the given point and time. We then obtain the equation $$\frac{{\partial v}}{{\partial t}} = k\left( {\frac{{{{\partial }^{2}}v}}{{\partial {{x}^{2}}}} + \frac{{{{\partial }^{2}}v}}{{\partial {{y}^{2}}}}} \right) + F(v)$$ (2)