Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations in a ball

Abstract

The Poisson Nernst-Planck equations for charge concentration and electric potential in a ball is a model of electro-diffusion of ions in the head of a neuronal dendritic spine. We study the relaxation and the steady state when an initial charge of ions is injected into the ball. The steady state equation is similar to the Liouville-Gelfand-Bratu-type equation with the difference that the boundary condition is Neumann, not Dirichlet and there a minus sign in the exponent of the exponential term. The entire boundary is impermeable to the ions and the electric field satisfies the compatibility condition of Poisson's equation. We construct a steady radial solution and find that the potential is maximal in the center and decreases toward the boundary. We study the limit of large charge in dimension 1,2 and 3. For the case of a small absorbing window in the sphere, we find the escape rate of an ion from the steady density.