Ginzburg-Landau equation with magnetic effect in a thin domain

We study the Ginzburg-Landau equation with magnetic effect in a thin domain in , where the thickness of the domain is controlled by a parameter . This equation is an Euler equation of a free energy functional and it has trivial solutions that are minimizers of the functional. In this article we look for a nontrivial stable solution to the equation, that is, a local minimizer of the energy functional. To prove the existence of such a stable solution in , we consider a reduced problem as and a nondegenerate stable solution to the reduced equation. Applying the standard variational argument, we show that there exists a stable solution in near the solution to the reduced equation if is sufficiently small. We also present a specific example of a domain which allows a stable vortex solution, that is, a stable solution with zeros. Received: 11 May 2001 / Accepted: 11 July 2001 /Published online: 19 October 2001     

On the uniqueness of a solution of a two-phase free boundary problem

In this paper, we study the uniqueness problem of a two-phase elliptic free boundary problem arising from the phase transition problem subject to given boundary data. We show that in general the comparison principle between the sub- and super-solutions does not hold, and there is no uniqueness of either a viscosity solution or a minimizer of this free boundary problem by constructing counter-examples in various cases in any dimension. In one-dimension, a bifurcation phenomenon presents and the uniqueness problem has been completely analyzed. In fact, the critical case signifies the change from uniqueness to non-uniqueness of a solution of the free boundary problem. Non-uniqueness of a solution of the free boundary problem suggests different physical stationary states caused by different processes, such as melting of ice or solidification of water, even with the same prescribed boundary data. However, we prove that a uniqueness theorem is true for the initial-boundary value problem of an ε-evolutionary problem which is the smoothed two-phase parabolic free boundary problem.     

The one-phase bifurcation for the p-Laplacian

A bifurcation about the uniqueness of a solution of a singularly perturbed free boundary problem of phase transition associated with the p-Laplacian, subject to given boundary condition is proved in this paper. We show this phenomenon by proving the existence of a third solution through the Mountain Pass Lemma when the boundary data decreases below a threshold. In the second part, we prove the convergence of an evolution to stable solutions, and show the Mountain Pass solution is unstable in this sense.     

Asymptotics for a free boundary model in price formation

We study the asymptotics for a large time of solutions to a one-dimensional parabolic evolution equation with non-standard measure-valued right hand side, that involves derivatives of the solution computed at a free boundary point. The problem is a particular case of a mean-field free boundary model proposed by Lasry-Lions on price formation and dynamic equilibria.The main step in the proof is based on the fact that the free boundary disappears in the linearized problem, thus it can be treated as a perturbation through semigroup theory. This requires a delicate choice for the function spaces since higher regularity is needed near the free boundary. We show global existence for solutions with initial data in a small neighborhood of any equilibrium point, and exponential decay towards a stationary state. Moreover, the family of equilibria of the equation is stable, as follows from center manifold theory.     

Front propagation in infinite cylinders. II. The sharp reaction zone limit

This paper applies the variational approach developed in part I of this work [22] to a singular limit of reaction–diffusion–advection equations which arise in combustion modeling. We first establish existence, uniqueness, monotonicity, asymptotic decay, and the associated free boundary problem for special traveling wave solutions which are minimizers of the considered variational problem in the singular limit. We then show that the speed of the minimizers of the approximating problems converges to the speed of the minimizer of the singular limit. Also, after an appropriate translation the minimizers of the approximating problems converge strongly on compacts to the minimizer of the singular limit. In addition, we obtain matching upper and lower bounds for the speed of the minimizers in the singular limit in terms of a certain area-type functional for small curvatures of the free boundary. The conclusions of the analysis are illustrated by a number of numerical examples.     

On a nonlocal boundary value problem for a fourth-order ordinary differential equation

We study a boundary value problem for a fourth-order ordinary differential equation with a nonlocal boundary condition. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for a minimizer of a specially constructed functional to be a solution of the problem.     

Mountain Pass Solutions for a Double-Well Energy

We establish the existence of a mountain pass solution for a variational integral involving a quasiconvex function with a double-well structure in the geometrically linear elasticity setting. We show that under small dead-load perturbations, the Neumann boundary value problem has at least three solutions, a global minimizer, a local minimizer and a mountain pass solution. We show that our variational integral satisfies a Weak Palais-Smale condition (WPS) hence the mountain pass lemma applies.     

On an elliptic-parabolic MEMS model with two free boundaries

We discuss an evolution free boundary problem of mixed type with two free boundaries modeling an idealized electrostatically actuated MEMS device. While the electric potential is the solution of an elliptic equation, the dynamics of the membranes’ displacement is modeled by two parabolic equations. It is shown that the model is locally well-posed in time and that solutions exist globally for small source voltages whereas non-existence holds for large voltage values. Moreover, our model possesses a steady state solution that is asymptotically stable. Finally, we show that in the vanishing aspect ratio limit, solutions of the model converge toward solutions of the associated small aspect ratio problem.     

A dynamic boundary value problem arising in the ecology of mangroves

We consider an evolution model describing the vertical movement of water and salt in a domain splitted in two parts: a water reservoir and a saturated porous medium below it, in which a continuous extraction of fresh water takes place (by the roots of mangroves). The problem is formulated in terms of a coupled system of partial differential equations for the salt concentration and the water flow in the porous medium, with a dynamic boundary condition which connects both subdomains.We study the existence and uniqueness of solutions, the stability of the trivial steady state solution, and the conditions for the root zone to reach, in finite time, the threshold value of salt concentration under which mangroves may live.     

Stefan-like problems with curvature

We study a two-phase free boundary problem in which the speed of the free boundary depends also on its curvature. It is assumed that the free boundary is Lipschitz and it is proved that the solution as well as the free boundary are classical.     

Fujita type critical exponent for a free boundary problem with spatial–temporal source

In this paper, we investigate a nonlinear free boundary problem incorporating with nontrivial spatial and exponential temporal weighted source. To portray the asymptotic behavior of the solution, we first derive some sufficient conditions for finite time blowup. Furthermore, the global vanishing solution is also obtained for a class of small initial data. Finally, a sharp threshold trichotomy result is provided in terms of the size of the initial data to distinguish the blowup solution, the global vanishing solution, and the global transition solution. In particular, our results show that such a problem always possesses a Fujita type critical exponent whenever the spatial source is just equivalent to a trivial constant, or is an extreme one, such as “very negative” one in the sense of measure or integral.     

Spatial Patterns for reaction-diffusion systems with conditions described by inclusions

We consider a reaction-diffusion system of the activator-inhibitor type with boundary conditions given by inclusions. We show that there exists a bifurcation point at which stationary but spatially nonconstant solutions (spatial patterns) bifurcate from the branch of trivial solutions. This bifurcation point lies in the domain of stability of the trivial solution to the same system with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, where a bifurcation of this classical problem is excluded.     

Global Solutions to Nonlinear Two-Phase Free Boundary Problems

We classify global Lipschitz solutions to two-phase free boundary problems governed by concave fully nonlinear equations as either two-plane solutions or solutions to a one-phase problem. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Higher Critical Points in an Elliptic Free Boundary Problem

We study higher critical points of the variational functional associated with a free boundary problem related to plasma confinement. Existence and regularity of minimizers in elliptic free boundary problems have already been studied extensively. But because the functionals are not smooth, standard variational methods cannot be used directly to prove the existence of higher critical points. Here we find a nontrivial critical point of mountain pass type and prove many of the same estimates known for minimizers, including Lipschitz continuity and nondegeneracy. We then show that the free boundary is smooth in dimension 2 and prove partial regularity in higher dimensions.     

Viscosity Solutions for the Two-Phase Stefan Problem

We introduce a notion of viscosity solutions for the two-phase Stefan problem, which incorporates possible existence of a mushy region generated by the initial data. We show that a comparison principle holds between viscosity solutions, and investigate the coincidence of the viscosity solutions and the weak solutions defined via integration by parts. In particular, in the absence of initial mushy region, viscosity solution is the unique weak solution with the same boundary data.     

Destabilization for quasivariational inequalities of reaction-diffusion type

We consider a reaction-diffusion system of the activator-inhibitor type with unilateral boundary conditions leading to a quasivariational inequality. We show that there exists a positive eigenvalue of the problem and we obtain an instability of the trivial solution also in some area of parameters where the trivial solution of the same system with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions is stable. Theorems are proved using the method of a jump in the Leray-Schauder degree.     

On Initial-Boundary Value Problem of the Stochastic Heat Equation in Lipschitz Cylinders

We consider the initial boundary value problem of the non-homogeneous stochastic heat equation. The derivative of the solution with respect to time receives heavy random noises. The space boundary is Lipschitz, and we impose nonzero condition on the parabolic boundary. We prove a regularity result by finding appropriate spaces for solutions and pre-assigned data in the problem. We use a collection of tools from potential theory, harmonic analysis, and probability. Some lemmas are as important as the main theorem.     

Existence and uniqueness analysis of a detached shock problem for the potential flow

We study a problem for two-dimensional steady potential and isentropic Euler equations in a bounded domain, where an artificial detached shock interacts with a wedge. Using the stream function, we obtain a free boundary problem for the subsonic state and the detached artificial shock curve and we prove that such configuration admits a unique solution in certain weighted Hölder spaces. The proof is based on various Hölder and Schauder estimates for second-order elliptic equations and fixed point theorems. Moreover, we pose an energy principle and remark that the physical attached shock is the minimizer of the energy functional.     

Boundary value problems for the one-dimensional Willmore equation

The one-dimensional Willmore equation is studied under Navier as well as under Dirichlet boundary conditions. We are interested in smooth graph solutions, since for suitable boundary data, we expect the stable solutions to be among these. In the first part, classical symmetric solutions for symmetric boundary data are studied and closed expressions are deduced. In the Navier case, one has existence of precisely two solutions for boundary data below a suitable threshold, precisely one solution on the threshold and no solution beyond the threshold. This effect reflects that we have a bending point in the corresponding bifurcation diagram and is not due to that we restrict ourselves to graphs. Under Dirichlet boundary conditions we always have existence of precisely one symmetric solution. In the second part, we consider boundary value problems with nonsymmetric data. Solutions are constructed by rotating and rescaling suitable parts of the graph of an explicit symmetric solution. One basic observation for the symmetric case can already be found in Euler’s work. It is one goal of the present paper to make Euler’s observation more accessible and to develop it under the point of view of boundary value problems. Moreover, general existence results are proved.     

The scattering of plane elastic waves by a one‐dimensional periodic surface

The two‐dimensional scattering problem for time‐harmonic plane waves in an isotropic elastic medium and an effectively infinite periodic surface is considered. A radiation condition for quasi‐periodic solutions similar to the condition utilized in the scattering of acoustic waves by one‐dimensional diffraction gratings is proposed. Under this condition, uniqueness of solution to the first and third boundary‐value problems is established. We then proceed by introducing a quasi‐periodic free field matrix of fundamental solutions for the Navier equation. The solution to the first boundary‐value problem is sought as a superposition of single‐ and double‐layer potentials defined utilizing this quasi‐periodic matrix. Existence of solution is established by showing the equivalence of the problem to a uniquely solvable second kind Fredholm integral equation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.