Analysis of a nonlinear degenerating PDE system for phase transitions in thermoviscoelastic materials

We address the analysis of a nonlinear and degenerating PDE system, proposed by M. Frémond for modelling phase transitions in viscoelastic materials subject to thermal effects. The system features an internal energy balance equation, governing the evolution of the absolute temperature ?, an evolution equation for the phase change parameter χ, and a stress-strain relation for the displacement variable u. The main novelty of the model is that the equations for χ and u are coupled in such a way as to take into account the fact that the properties of the viscous and of the elastic parts influence the phase transition phenomenon in different ways. However, this brings about an elliptic degeneracy in the equation for u which needs to be carefully handled.In this paper, we first prove a local (in time) well-posedness result for (a suitable initial-boundary value problem for) the above mentioned PDE system, in the (spatially) three-dimensional setting. Secondly, we restrict to the one-dimensional case, in which, for the same initial-boundary value problem, we indeed obtain a global well-posedness theorem.     

Asymptotic behavior of a nonisothermal viscous Cahn-Hilliard equation with inertial term

We consider a differential model describing nonisothermal fast phase separation processes taking place in a three-dimensional bounded domain. This model consists of a viscous Cahn-Hilliard equation characterized by the presence of an inertial term χtt, χ being the order parameter, which is linearly coupled with an evolution equation for the (relative) temperature ?. The latter can be of hyperbolic type if the Cattaneo-Maxwell heat conduction law is assumed. The state variables and the chemical potential are subject to the homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. We first provide conditions which ensure the well-posedness of the initial and boundary value problem. Then, we prove that the corresponding dynamical system is dissipative and possesses a global attractor. Moreover, assuming that the nonlinear potential is real analytic, we establish that each trajectory converges to a single steady state by using a suitable version of the ?ojasiewicz-Simon inequality. We also obtain an estimate of the decay rate to equilibrium.     

A non-autonomous two-phase flow model with oscillating external force and its global attractor

In this article, we consider a non-autonomous diffuse interface model for an isothermal incompressible two-phase flow in a two-dimensional bounded domain. Assuming that the external force is singularly oscillating and depends on a small parameter ?, we prove the existence of the uniform global attractor A^?. Furthermore, using the method similar to that of Chepyzhov and Vishik (2007) [22] in the case of the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes systems, we study the convergence of A^? as ? goes to zero. Let us mention that the nonlinearity involved in the model considered in this article is slightly stronger than the one in the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes system studied in Chepyzhov and Vishik (2007) [22].     

Generalized Fresnel integrals

A general class of (finite dimensional) oscillatory integrals with polynomially growing phase functions is studied. A representation formula of the Parseval type is proven as well as a formula giving the integrals in terms of analytically continued absolutely convergent integrals. Their asymptotic expansion for “strong oscillations” is given. The expansion is in powers of ?1/2M, where ? is a small parameters and 2M is the order of growth of the phase function. Additional assumptions on the integrands are found which are sufficient to yield convergent, resp. Borel summable, expansions.     

The radiation condition at infinity for the high-frequency Helmholtz equation with source term: a wave-packet approach

We consider the high-frequency Helmholtz equation with a given source term, and a small absorption parameter α>0. The high-frequency (or: semi-classical) parameter is ?>0. We let ? and α go to zero simultaneously. We assume that the zero energy is non-trapping for the underlying classical flow. We also assume that the classical trajectories starting from the origin satisfy a transversality condition, a generic assumption.Under these assumptions, we prove that the solution u^? radiates in the outgoing direction, uniformly in ?. In particular, the function u^?, when conveniently rescaled at the scale ? close to the origin, is shown to converge towards the outgoing solution of the Helmholtz equation, with coefficients frozen at the origin. This provides a uniform version (in ?) of the limiting absorption principle.Writing the resolvent of the Helmholtz equation as the integral in time of the associated semi-classical Schrödinger propagator, our analysis relies on the following tools: (i) for very large times, we prove and use a uniform version of the Egorov Theorem to estimate the time integral; (ii) for moderate times, we prove a uniform dispersive estimate that relies on a wave-packet approach, together with the above-mentioned transversality condition; (iii) for small times, we prove that the semi-classical Schrödinger operator with variable coefficients has the same dispersive properties as in the constant coefficients case, uniformly in ?.     

Gevrey regularity of the periodic gKdV equation

Using the multilinear estimates, which were derived for proving well-posedness of the generalized Korteweg-de Vries (gKdV) equation, it is shown that if the initial data belongs to Gevrey space Gσ, σ?1, in the space variable then the solution to the corresponding Cauchy problem for gKdV belongs also to Gσ in the space variable. Moreover, the solution is not necessarily Gσ in the time variable. However, it belongs to G3σ near 0. When σ=1 these are analytic regularity results for gKdV.     

Stationary isothermic surfaces and some characterizations of the hyperplane in the N-dimensional Euclidean space

We consider the entire graph S of a continuous real function over RN−1 with N?3. Let Ω be a domain in RN with S as a boundary. Consider in Ω the heat flow with initial temperature 0 and boundary temperature 1. The problem we consider is to characterize S in such a way that there exists a stationary isothermic surface in Ω. We show that S must be a hyperplane under some general conditions on S. This is related to Liouville or Bernstein-type theorems for some elliptic Monge-Ampère-type equation.     

Entire solutions for a semilinear fourth order elliptic problem with exponential nonlinearity

We investigate entire radial solutions of the semilinear biharmonic equation Δ²u=λexp(u) in Rn, n?5, λ>0 being a parameter. We show that singular radial solutions of the corresponding Dirichlet problem in the unit ball cannot be extended as solutions of the equation to the whole of Rn. In particular, they cannot be expanded as power series in the natural variable s=log|x|. Next, we prove the existence of infinitely many entire regular radial solutions. They all diverge to −∞ as |x|→∞ and we specify their asymptotic behaviour. As in the case with power-type nonlinearities [F. Gazzola, H.-Ch. Grunau, Radial entire solutions for supercritical biharmonic equations, Math. Ann. 334 (2006) 905-936], the entire singular solution x?−4log|x| plays the role of a separatrix in the bifurcation picture. Finally, a technique for the computer assisted study of a broad class of equations is developed. It is applied to obtain a computer assisted proof of the underlying dynamical behaviour for the bifurcation diagram of a corresponding autonomous system of ODEs, in the case n=5.     

Global existence of BV solutions and relaxation limit for a model of multiphase reactive flow

We consider a strictly hyperbolic system of balance laws in one space variable, that represents a simple model for a fluid flow in the presence of phase transitions. The state variables are specific volume, velocity and mass-density fraction λ of the vapor in the fluid. A reactive source term drives the dynamics of the phase mixtures; such a term depends on a relaxation parameter and involves an equilibrium pressure, allowing for metastable states.First we prove the global existence of weak solutions to the Cauchy problem, where the initial datum for λ is close either to 0 or 1 (the pure phases) and has small total variation, while the initial variations of pressure and velocity are not necessarily small. Then we consider the relaxation limit and prove that the weak solutions of the full system converge to those of the reduced system.     

Reconstruction of two time independent coefficients in an inverse problem for a phase field system

In this paper we present stability results concerning the inverse problem of determining two time independent coefficients for a phase field system in a bounded domain Ω⊂Rⁿ for the dimension n≤3 with a single observation on a subdomain ω?Ω and the Sobolev norm of certain partial derivatives of the solutions at a fixed positive time θ∈(0,T) over the whole spatial domain. The proof of these results relies on an appropriate Carleman estimate for the phase field system.     

Time-Frequency analysis of localization operators

We study a class of pseudodifferential operators known as time-frequency localization operators, Anti-Wick operators, Gabor-Toeplitz operators or wave packets. Given a symbol a and two windows ?₁,?₂, we investigate the multilinear mapping from to the localization operator A_a^?₁,?₂ and we give sufficient and necessary conditions for A_a^?₁,?₂ to be bounded or to belong to a Schatten class. Our results are formulated in terms of time-frequency analysis, in particular we use modulation spaces as appropriate classes for symbols and windows.     

A priori estimate for non-uniform elliptic equations

A priori estimate for non-uniform elliptic equations with periodic boundary conditions is concerned. The domain considered consists of two sub-regions, a connected high permeability region and a disconnected matrix block region with low permeability. Let ? denote the size ratio of one matrix block to the whole domain. It is shown that in the connected high permeability sub-region, the Hölder and the Lipschitz estimates of the non-uniform elliptic solutions are bounded uniformly in ?. But Hölder gradient estimate and Lp estimate of the second order derivatives of the solutions in general are not bounded uniformly in ?.     

Cauchy problem for higher order p-evolution equations

We consider p  -evolution equations of order m?2$m?2$ in (t,x)$(t,x)$ with real characteristics. We give sufficient conditions for the well-posedness of the Cauchy problem in Sobolev spaces, in terms of decay estimates of the coefficients as the space variable x→∞$x\to \infty$.     

Attractors for reaction-diffusion equations on thin domains whose linear part is non-self-adjoint

For a bounded smooth domain Ω⊂R^N_x+N_y let Ω_?, 0<?, be a family of domains squeezed in y∈R^N_y direction. On Ω_? we consider a reaction-diffusion equation with nonsymmetrical linear part. We show that under natural conditions on the nonlinearity the generated semi-flows have global attractors which in a certain sense have limits, as ?↓0.     

Homogenization of transport equations: A simple PDE approach to the Kubo formula

We are interested in the behavior with respect to the small parameter ?>0 of solutions ρ? of the conservative transport(-diffusion) equation t_∂ρ?+∇x(ρ?u?)=ηΔxρ?, with η?0, driven by a large random velocity field: |u?|=O(1/?). Assuming that the velocity does not have long-time memory we justify the convergence of the expectation Eρ? to the solution of a diffusion equation. This question has been widely investigated; here we present a simple proof which only relies on PDE tools.     

The heterogeneous Allen-Cahn equation in a ball: Solutions with layers and spikes

Let u? be a single layered radially symmetric unstable solution of the Allen-Cahn equation −?²Δu=u(u−a(|x|))(1−u) over the unit ball with Neumann boundary conditions. Based on our estimate of the small eigenvalues of the linearized eigenvalue problem at u? when ? is small, we construct solutions of the form u?+v?, with v? non-radially symmetric and close to zero in the unit ball except near one point x₀ such that |x₀| is close to a nondegenerate critical point of a(r). Such a solution has a sharp layer as well as a spike.     

A topological property enjoyed by near points but not by large points

Let H denote the halfline [0,∞). A point p?βH?H is called a near point if p is in the closure of some countable discrete closed subspace of H. In addition, a point p?βH?H is called a large point if p is not in the closure of a closed subset of H of finite Lebesgue measure. We will show that for every autohomeomorphism ? of βH?H and for each near point p we have that ?(p) is not large. In addition, we establish, under CH, the existence of a point x?βH?H such that for each autohomeomorphism ? of βH?H the point ?(x) is neither large nor near.     

Phase transitions with semi-diffuse interfaces

In this paper, we examine new “phase-field” models with semi-diffuse interfaces. These models have the property that the −1/+1 planar phase transitions take place over a finite interval. The models also support multiple interface solutions with interfaces centered at arbitrary points L₁<L₂<?<L_N. These solutions correspond to local minima of an entropy functional (see (3.3) and (3.7)) rather than saddle points and are dynamically stable. The classical models have no such exact solutions but they do support solutions with N equally spaced transition points where the order parameter transitions between values p_min(N) and p_max(N) satisfying −1<p_min(N)<0<p_max(N)<1. These solutions of the classical model are saddle points of the entropy functional associated with those models and are not dynamically stable.     

Spatial dynamics of a nonlocal and time-delayed reaction-diffusion system

In this paper, we investigate the spatial dynamics of a nonlocal and time-delayed reaction-diffusion system, which is motivated by an age-structured population model with distributed maturation delay. The spreading speed c^*, the existence of traveling waves with the wave speed c?c^*, and the nonexistence of traveling waves with c<c^* are obtained. It turns out that the spreading speed coincides with the minimal wave speed for monotone traveling waves.     

Properties of positive harmonic functions on the half-space with a nonlinear boundary condition

In this paper we study existence and properties of solutions of the problem Δw=0 on the half-space with nonlinear boundary condition ∂w/∂η+w=|w|^p−2w where 2<p<2(N−1)/(N−2) and N?3. We obtain a ground state solution w=w(x₁,…,xN−1,t) which is radial and has exponential decay in the first N−1 variables. Moreover, w has sharp polynomial decay in the variable t.