Separation Dichotomy and Wavefronts for a Nonlinear Convolution Equation

This paper is concerned with a scalar nonlinear convolution equation, which appears naturally in the theory of traveling waves for monostable evolution models. First, we prove that, at each end of the real line, every bounded positive solution of the convolution equation should either be separated from zero or be exponentially converging to zero. This dichotomy principle is then used to establish a general theorem guaranteeing the uniform persistence and existence of semi-wavefront solutions to the convolution equation. Finally, we apply our theoretical results to several well-studied classes of evolution equations with asymmetric non-local and non-monotone response. We show that, contrary to the symmetric case, these equations can possess simultaneously stationary, expansion and extinction waves. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.