Age-structured models with nonlocal diffusion of Dirichlet type. I: Principal spectral theory and limiting properties

Age-structured models with nonlocal diffusion arise naturally in describing the population dynamics of biological species and the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases in which individuals disperse nonlocally and interact with each other and the age structure of individuals matters. In part I of a series of two papers, we study the principal spectral theory of age-structured models with nonlocal diffusion of Dirichlet type. First, we provide two criteria on the existence of principal eigenvalues by using the theory of resolvent positive operators with their perturbations. Then we define the generalized principal eigenvalues and use them to investigate the influence of diffusion rate on the principal eigenvalues. In addition, we establish the strong maximum principle for age-structured nonlocal diffusion operators. In part II [15] we will investigate the effects of principal eigenvalues on the global dynamics of the model with monotone nonlinearity in the birth rate and show that the principal eigenvalue being zero is critical.