On an Isoperimetric Problem with a Competing Nonlocal Term II: The General Case

This paper is the continuation of a previous paper (H. Knüpfer and C. B. Muratov, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 66 (2013), 1129–1162). We investigate the classical isoperimetric problem modified by an addition of a nonlocal repulsive term generated by a kernel given by an inverse power of the distance. In this work, we treat the case of a general space dimension. We obtain basic existence results for minimizers with sufficiently small masses. For certain ranges of the exponent in the kernel, we also obtain nonexistence results for sufficiently large masses, as well as a characterization of minimizers as balls for sufficiently small masses and low spatial dimensionality. The physically important special case of three space dimensions and Coulombic repulsion is included in all the results mentioned above. In particular, our work yields a negative answer to the question if stable atomic nuclei at arbitrarily high atomic numbers can exist in the framework of the classical liquid drop model of nuclear matter. In all cases the minimal energy scales linearly with mass for large masses, even if the infimum of energy cannot be attained. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A Boundedness Result for Minimizers of Some Polyconvex Integrals

We consider polyconvex functionals of the Calculus of Variations defined on maps from the three-dimensional Euclidean space into itself. Counterexamples show that minimizers need not to be bounded. We find conditions on the structure of the functional, which force minimizers to be locally bounded.     

On an Isoperimetric Problem with a Competing Nonlocal Term I: The Planar Case

This paper is concerned with a study of the classical isoperimetric problem modified by an addition of a nonlocal repulsive term. We characterize existence, nonexistence, and radial symmetry of the minimizers as a function of mass in the situation where the nonlocal term is generated by a kernel given by an inverse power of the distance. We prove that minimizers of this problem exist for sufficiently small masses and are given by disks with prescribed mass below a certain threshold when the interfacial term in the energy is dominant. At the same time, we prove that minimizers fail to exist for sufficiently large masses due to the tendency of the low‐energy configuration to split into smaller pieces when the nonlocal term in the energy is dominant. In the latter regime, we also establish linear scaling of energy with mass, suggesting that for large masses low‐energy configurations consist of many roughly equal‐size pieces far apart. In the case of slowly decaying kernels, we give a complete characterization of the minimizers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Evolution by Non-Convex Functionals

We establish a semi-group solution concept for flows that are generated by generalized minimizers of non-convex energy functionals. We use relaxation and convexification to define these generalized minimizers. The main part of this work consists in exemplary validation of the solution concept for a non-convex energy functional. For rotationally invariant initial data it is compared with the solution of the mean curvature flow equation. The basic example relates the mean curvature flow equation with a sequence of iterative minimizers of a family of non-convex energy functionals. Together with the numerical evidence this corroborates the claim that the non-convex semi-group solution concept defines, in general, a solution of the mean curvature equation.     

Heteroclinic solutions of a van der Waals model with indefinite nonlocal interactions

We construct heteroclinic the global minimizers of a nonlocal free energy functional that van der Waals derived in 1893. We study the case where the nonlocality satisfies only a weakened type of ellipticity, which precludes the use of comparison methods. In the interesting case when the local part of the energy is nonconvex, we construct a classical the global minimizer by studying a relaxed functional corresponding to the convexification of the local part and exclude the possibility of minimizers of the relaxed functional having rapid oscillations. We also construct examples where the global minimizer is not monotonic.     

Local minimizers with vortices to the Ginzburg‐Landau system in three dimensions

We construct local minimizers to the Ginzburg‐Landau energy in certain three‐dimensional domains based on the asymptotic connection between the energy and the total length of vortices using the theory of weak Jacobians. Whenever there exists a collection of locally minimal line segments spanning the domain, we can find local minimizers with arbitrarily assigned degrees with respect to each segment. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A Volume Constrained Variational Problem with Lower-Order Terms

We study a one-dimensional variational problem with two or more level set constraints. The existence of global and local minimizers turns out to be dependent on the regularity of the energy density. A complete characterization of local minimizers and the underlying energy landscape is provided. The Γ -limit when the phases exhaust the whole domain is computed.     

A Volume Constrained Variational Problem with Lower-Order Terms

We study a one-dimensional variational problem with two or more level set constraints. The existence of global and local minimizers turns out to be dependent on the regularity of the energy density. A complete characterization of local minimizers and the underlying energy landscape is provided. The Γ -limit when the phases exhaust the whole domain is computed.     

Films courbés minces ferromagnétiques

We consider a thin curved ferromagnetic film not submitted to an external magnetic field. The behavior of the film is described by an energy depending on the magnetization of the film verifying the saturation constraint. The energy is composed of an induced magnetostatic energy and an energy term with density including the exchange energy and the anisotropic energy. We study the behavior of this energy when the thickness of the curved film goes to zero. We show with Γ-convergence arguments that the minimizers of the free energy converge to the minimizers of a local energy depending on a two-dimensional magnetization. To cite this article: H. Zorgati, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 340 (2005).     

Size of Planar Domains and Existence of Minimizers of the Ginzburg–Landau Energy with Semistiff Boundary Conditions

The Ginzburg–Landau energy with semistiff boundary conditions is an intermediate model between the full Ginzburg–Landau equations, which leads to the appearance of both a condensate wave function and a magnetic potential, and the simplified Ginzburg–Landau model, coupling the condensate wave function to a Dirichlet boundary condition. In the semistiff model, there is no magnetic potential. The boundary data are not fixed, but circulation is prescribed on the boundary. Mathematically, this leads to prescribing the degrees on the components of the boundary. The corresponding problem is variational, but noncompact: in general, energy minimizers do not exist. Existence of minimizers is governed by the topology and the size of the underlying domain. We propose here various notions of domain size related to existence of minimizers, and discuss existence of minimizers or critical points, as well as their uniqueness and asymptotic behavior. We also present the state of the art in the study of this model, accounting for results obtained during the last decade by Berlyand, Dos Santos, Farina, Golovaty, Rybalko, Sandier, and the author.     

On Equilibrium Shape of Charged Flat Drops

The equilibrium shapes of two‐dimensional charged, perfectly conducting liquid drops are governed by a geometric variational problem that involves a perimeter term modeling line tension and a capacitary term modeling Coulombic repulsion. Here we give a complete explicit solution to this variational problem. Namely, we show that at fixed total charge a ball of a particular radius is the unique global minimizer among all sufficiently regular sets in the plane. For sets whose area is also fixed, we show that balls are the only minimizers if the charge is less than or equal to a critical charge, while for larger charge minimizers do not exist. Analogous results hold for drops whose potential, rather than charge, is fixed. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Geometry of the Phase Diffusion Equation

$ \tau(|{{\vec k}}|) \mbox{\bf $\Theta$}_T = -\nabla\cdot (B(|{{\vec k}}|)\cdot {{\vec k}}), \,\, {{\vec k}} = \nabla \mbox{\bf $\Theta$},$ and its regularization describes natural patterns and defects far from onset in large aspect ratio systems with rotational symmetry. In this paper we construct explicit solutions of the unregularized equation and suggest candidates for its weak solutions. We confirm these ideas by examining a fourth-order regularized equation in the limit of infinite aspect ratio. The stationary solutions of this equation include the minimizers of a free energy, and we show these minimizers are remarkably well-approximated by a second-order ``self-dual' equation. Moreover, the self-dual solutions give upper bounds for the free energy which imply the existence of weak limits for the asymptotic minimizers. In certain cases, some recent results of Jin and Kohn [28] combined with these upper bounds enable us to demonstrate that the energy of the asymptotic minimizers converges to that of the self-dual solutions in a viscosity limit. Received on October 30, 1998; final revision received July 6, 1999     

Aggregation-diffusion to constrained interaction: Minimizers & gradient flows in the slow diffusion limit

Inspired by recent work on minimizers and gradient flows of constrained interaction energies, we prove that these energies arise as the slow diffusion limit of well-known aggregation-diffusion energies. We show that minimizers of aggregation-diffusion energies converge to a minimizer of the constrained interaction energy and gradient flows converge to a gradient flow. Our results apply to a range of interaction potentials, including singular attractive and repulsive-attractive power-law potentials. In the process of obtaining the slow diffusion limit, we also extend the well-posedness theory for aggregation-diffusion equations and Wasserstein gradient flows to admit a wide range of nonconvex interaction potentials. We conclude by applying our results to develop a numerical method for constrained interaction energies, which we use to investigate open questions on set valued minimizers.     

A new approximation of relaxed energies for harmonic maps and the Faddeev model

We propose a new approximation for the relaxed energy E of the Dirichlet energy and prove that the minimizers of the approximating functionals converge to a minimizer u of the relaxed energy, and that u is partially regular without using the concept of Cartesian currents. We also use the same approximation method to study the variational problem of the relaxed energy for the Faddeev model and prove the existence of minimizers for the relaxed energy ${\tilde{E}_F}$ in the class of maps with Hopf degree ±1.     

Masse fluide in rotazione

Problems concerning the existence of local minimizers of a functional which represents in the chance number 3 the positions of balance about a fluid surrounding solid sphere are considered. The existence of these minimizers is demonstrated when coefficient relative to centripetal force is quite big.     

Variational Problems with a p-Homogeneous Energy

We investigate existence, uniqueness and positivity of minimizers or critical points for an energy functional which contains only p-homogeneous and linear terms, 1p-homogeneous part of the energy functional is that it be given by the p-th power of an equivalent, uniformly convex norm on the underlying Sobolev space. Finally, continuous dependence of minimizers on the energy functional is established.     

Spherical Particle in Nematic Liquid Crystal Under an External Field: The Saturn Ring Regime

We consider a nematic liquid crystal occupying the exterior region in \({\mathbb {R}}^3\) outside of a spherical particle, with radial strong anchoring. Within the context of the Landau-de Gennes theory, we study minimizers subject to an external field, modeled by an additional term which favors nematic alignment parallel to the field. When the external field is high enough, we obtain a scaling law for the energy. The energy scale corresponds to minimizers concentrating their energy in a boundary layer around the particle, with quadrupolar symmetry. This suggests the presence of a Saturn ring defect around the particle, rather than a dipolar director field typical of a point defect.     

Quasiconformal extension fields

We consider extensions of differential fields of mappings and obtain a lower bound for energy of quasiconformal extension fields in terms of the topological degree. We also consider the related minimization problem for the q-harmonic energy, and show that the energy minimizers admit higher integrability.     

Limiting properties of the second order Ginzburg–Landau minimizers

The author studies the weak convergence for the gradient of the minimizers for a second order energy functional when the parameter tends to 0. And this paper is also concerned with the location of the zeros and the blow-up points of the gradient of the minimizers of this functional. Finally, the strong convergence of the gradient of the radial minimizers is obtained.     

Prediction of microstructure in a Cosserat continuum using relaxed energies

We develop a nonlinear incompressible multiphase material model in a Cosserat continuum with microstructure. The free energy of the material is enriched with an interaction potential taking into account the intergranular kinematics at the continuum scale. As a result the total energy becomes non-convex, thus giving rise to the development of microstructural phases. To guarantee the existence of minimizers an exact quasi-convex envelope of the corresponding energy functional is derived. As a result a three phase material energy appears, among them two of the phases are with microstructure in the translational motion (displacment field) and micromotion (microrotation field), whereas the third phase is without internal structure. The corresponding relaxed energy is then used for finding the minimizers of the two field minimization problem corresponding to a Cosserat continuum. Results from a numerical example predicting the development of microstructure in the material are presented. (© 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)