Spatiotemporal dynamics analysis and optimal control method for an SI reaction-diffusion propagation model

Abstract In the new social media era, it is becoming increasingly important to explore the propagation rules for rumors in social networks. This article is concerned with investigating a diffusive susceptible-infected rumor propagation model with a nonlinear propagation function in a spatially heterogeneous environment. We establish the uniform persistence and analyze the asymptotic behavior of the rumor-spreading steady state for the spatially heterogeneous model when one of the diffusion coefficients tends to zero. Moreover, to better reflect the effect of a time delay on the process of rumor propagation, we establish a spatially homogeneous model with a time delay and prove the existence and local stability of the corresponding equilibrium point. Furthermore, the optimal control in the spatially homogeneous environment case is derived. Finally, several numerical simulations are performed to verify the theoretical results in both spatially heterogeneous and spatially homogeneous systems.