Existence and stability of weak solutions for a degenerate parabolic system modelling two-phase flows in porous media

We prove global existence of nonnegative weak solutions to a degenerate parabolic system which models the interaction of two thin fluid films in a porous medium. Furthermore, we show that these weak solutions converge at an exponential rate towards flat equilibria.     

Well-posedness and stability results for a quasilinear periodic Muskat problem

We study the Muskat problem describing the spatially periodic motion of two fluids with equal viscosities under the effect of gravity in a vertical unbounded two-dimensional geometry. We first prove that the classical formulation of the problem is equivalent to a nonlocal and nonlinear evolution equation expressed in terms of singular integrals and having only the interface between the fluids as unknown. Secondly, we show that this evolution equation has a quasilinear structure, which is at a formal level not obvious, and we also disclose the parabolic character of the equation. Exploiting these aspects, we establish the local well-posedness of the problem for arbitrary initial data in $H^s(\mathbb{S})$, with $s\in (3/2,2)$, determine a new criterion for the global existence of solutions, and uncover a parabolic smoothing property. Besides, we prove that the zero steady-state solution is exponentially stable.     

A probabilistic approach to spectral analysis of growth-fragmentation equations

The growth-fragmentation equation describes a system of growing and dividing particles, and arises in models of cell division, protein polymerisation and even telecommunications protocols. Several important questions about the equation concern the asymptotic behaviour of solutions at large times: at what rate do they converge to zero or infinity, and what does the asymptotic profile of the solutions look like? Does the rescaled solution converge to its asymptotic profile at an exponential speed? These questions have traditionally been studied using analytic techniques such as entropy methods or splitting of operators. In this work, we present a probabilistic approach: we use a Feynman–Kac formula to relate the solution of the growth-fragmentation equation to the semigroup of a Markov process, and characterise the rate of decay or growth in terms of this process. We then identify the Malthus exponent and the asymptotic profile in terms of a related Markov process, and give a spectral interpretation in terms of the growth-fragmentation operator and its dual.     

A priori time regularity estimates and a simplified proof of existence in perfect plasticity

We revisit the time‐incremental method for proving existence of a quasistatic evolution in perfect plasticity. We show how, as a consequence of a priori time regularity estimates on the stress and the plastic strain, the piecewise affine interpolants of the solutions of the incremental minimum problems satisfy the conditions defining a quasistatic evolution up to some vanishing error. This allows for a quicker proof of existence: furthermore, this proof bypasses the usual variational reformulation of the problem and directly tackles its original mechanical formulation in terms of an equilibrium condition, a stress constraint, and the principle of maximum plastic work.