Exponential convergence to equilibrium in a Poisson-Nernst-Planck-type system with nonlinear diffusion

Abstract: We investigate a Poisson-Nernst-Planck type system in three spatial dimensions where the strength of the electric drift depends on a possibly small parameter and the particles are assumed to diffuse quadratically. On grounds of the global existence result proved by Kinderlehrer, Monsaingeon and Xu (2015) using the formal Wasserstein gradient flow structure of the system, we analyse the long-time behaviour of weak solutions. We prove under the assumption of uniform convexity of the external drift potentials that the system possesses a unique steady state. If the strength of the electric drift is sufficiently small, we show convergence of solutions to the respective steady state at an exponential rate using entropy-dissipation methods.