Global convergence toward traveling fronts in nonlinear parabolic systems with a gradient structure

We consider nonlinear parabolic systems of the form ut=−∇V(u)+u_xx$u_t=-\mathrm{\nabla }V(u)+u_{xx}$, where u∈Rn$u\in {\mathbb{R}}^n$, n?1$n?1$, x∈R$x\in \mathbb{R}$, and the potential V   is coercive at infinity. For such systems, we prove a result of global convergence toward bistable fronts which states that invasion of a stable homogeneous equilibrium (a local minimum of the potential) necessarily occurs via a traveling front connecting to another (lower) equilibrium. This provides, for instance, a generalization of the global convergence result obtained by Fife and McLeod P. Fife, J.B. McLeod, The approach of solutions of nonlinear diffusion equations to traveling front solutions, Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 65 (1977) 335–361] in the case n=1$n=1$. The proof is based purely on energy methods, it does not make use of comparison principles, which do not hold any more when n>1$n>1$.