Abstract
Abstract We investigate the lifespan of solutions to the higher‐order semilinear parabolic equation with initial data . We focus on the precise asymptotic behavior of the lifespan of nontrivial solutions. By combining the test function method and semigroup estimates, we derive both upper and lower bounds for the lifespan of solutions where is the critical exponent of Fujita. These estimates refine and extend the earlier results of Caristi–Mitidieri [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 279 (2003), no. 2, 710–722] and Sun [Electron. J. Differential Equations 2010 (2010), no. 17, 9], who obtained only upper bounds for slowly decaying initial data. In our setting, the above condition on the initial data is replaced by the assumption , which sharpens the results of the aforementioned works.