The degenerate Cahn-Hilliard equation is a standard model to describe living tissues. It takes into account cell populations undergoing short-range attraction and long-range repulsion effects. In this framework, we consider the usual Cahn-Hilliard equation with a singular single-well potential and degenerate mobility. These degeneracy and singularity induce numerous difficulties, in particular for its numerical simulation. To overcome these issues, we propose a relaxation system formed of two second order equations which can be solved with standard packages. This system is endowed with an energy and an entropy structure compatible with the limiting equation. Here, we study the theoretical properties of this system; global existence and convergence of the relaxed system to the degenerate Cahn-Hilliard equation. We also study the long-time asymptotics which interest relies on the numerous possible steady states with given mass.
In this note, we want to highlight and correct an error in the paper "On the nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard-Brinkman and Cahn-Hilliard-Hele-Shaw systems" [Comm. Pure Appl. Anal. 15 (2016), 299-317] written by the authors.
We investigate a multiphase Cahn-Hilliard model for tumor growth with general source terms. The multiphase approach allows us to consider multiple cell types and multiple chemical species (oxygen and/or nutrients) that are consumed by the tumor. Compared to classical two-phase tumor growth models, the multiphase model can be used to describe a stratified tumor exhibiting several layers of tissue (e.g., proliferating, quiescent and necrotic tissue) more precisely. Our model consists of a convective Cahn-Hilliard type equation to describe the tumor evolution, a velocity equation for the associat…
The aim of this paper is to study the well-posedness and the existence of global attractors for a family of Cahn-Hilliard equations with a mobility depending on the chemical potential. Such models arise from generalizations of the (classical) Cahn-Hilliard equation due to M. E. Gurtin.
This note completely resolves the asymptotic development of order $2$ by $Γ$-convergence of the mass-constrained Cahn--Hilliard functional, by showing that one of the critical assumptions of the authors' previous work (Leoni, Murray, Second-order $Γ$-limit for the Cahn--Hilliard functional, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 219, 3, 2016) is unnecessary.
In this paper, on the basis of the Schauder type estimates and Campanato spaces, we prove the global existence of classical solutions for a generalized Cahn-Hilliard equation with biological applications.
In this paper we study a nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard model (CHE) in the framework of random walk spaces, which includes as particular cases, the CHE on locally finite weighted connected graphs, the CHE determined by finite Markov chains or the Cahn-Hilliard Equations driven by convolution integrable kernels. We consider different transitions for the phase and the chemical potential, and a large class of potentials including obstacle ones. We prove existence and uniqueness of solutions in $L^1$ of the Cahn-Hilliard Equation. We also show that the Cahn-Hilliard equation is the gradient flow of the Gi…
An asymptotic limit of a class of Cahn-Hilliard systems is investigated to obtain a general nonlinear diffusion equation. The target diffusion equation may reproduce a number of well-known model equations: Stefan problem, porous media equation, Hele-Shaw profile, nonlinear diffusion of singular logarithmic type, nonlinear diffusion of Penrose-Fife type, fast diffusion equation and so on. Namely, by setting the suitable potential of the Cahn-Hilliard systems, all of these problems can be obtained as limits of the Cahn-Hilliard related problems. Convergence results and error estimates are proved…
We prove existence, uniqueness, regularity and separation properties for a nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation with a reaction term. We deal here with the case of logarithmic potential and degenerate mobility as well an uniformly lipschitz in $u$ reaction term $g(x,t,u).$
We consider the Cahn-Hilliard equation in one space dimension with scaling a small parameter εand a non-convex potential W. In the limit \espilon \to 0, under the assumption that the initial data are energetically well-prepared, we show the convergence to a Stefan problem. The proof is based on variational methods and exploits the gradient flow structure of the Cahn-Hilliard equation.
The goal of this paper is to solve a long standing open problem, namely, the asymptotic development of order $2$ by $Γ$-convergence of the mass-constrained Cahn-Hilliard functional. This is achieved by introducing a novel rearrangement technique, which works without Dirichlet boundary conditions.
We establish sufficient conditions for a function on the torus to be equal to its Steiner symmetrization and apply the result to volume-constrained minimizers of the Cahn-Hilliard energy. We also show how two-point rearrangements can be used to establish symmetry for the Cahn-Hilliard model. In two dimensions, the Bonnesen inequality can then be applied to quantitatively estimate the sphericity of superlevel sets.
In this paper, the existence of weak solutions of a convective Cahn-Hilliard equation with degenerate mobility is studied. We first define a notion of weak solutions and establish a regularized problems. The existence of such solutions is obtained by considered the limits of the regularized problems.
The existence of an inertial manifold for the 3D Cahn-Hilliard equation with periodic boundary conditions is verified using the proper extension of the so-called spatial averaging principle introduced by G. Sell and J. Mallet-Paret. Moreover, the extra regularity of this manifold is also obtained.
The Cahn-Hilliard equation is a fundamental model that describes the phase separation process in multi-component mixtures. It has been successfully extended to many different contexts in several scientific fields. In this survey article, we briefly review the derivation, structure as well as some analytical issues for the Cahn-Hilliard equation and its variants. Our focus will be placed on the well-posedness and long-time behavior of the Cahn-Hilliard equation in the classical setting and recent progresses on the dynamic boundary conditions accounting for non-trivial boundary effects.
The paper is devoted to the classification of entire solutions to the Cahn-Hilliard equation $-Δu = u-u^3-δ$ in $\R^N$, with particular interest in those solutions whose nodal set is either bounded or contained in a cylinder. The aim is to prove either radial or cylindrical symmetry, under suitable hypothesis.
There has been recently an important interest in deriving rigorously the Cahn-Hilliard equation from the nonlocal equation, also called aggregation equation. So far, only non-degenerate mobilities were treated. Since we are motivated by models for the biomechanics of living tissues, it is useful to include degenerate motilities. In this framework, we present a new method to show the convergence of the nonlocal to the local degenerate Cahn-Hilliard equation. The method includes the use of nonlocal Poincaré and compactness inequalities.
This paper examines the well-posedness of the Stefan problem with a dynamic boundary condition. To show the existence of the weak solution, the original problem is approximated by a limit of an equation and dynamic boundary condition of Cahn-Hilliard type. By using this Cahn-Hilliard approach, it becomes clear that the state of the mushy region of the Stefan problem is characterized by an asymptotic limit of the fourth-order system, which has a double-well structure. This fact also raises the possibility of the numerical application of the Cahn-Hilliard system to the degenerate parabolic equat…
The Cahn-Hilliard and viscous Cahn-Hilliard equations with singular and possibly nonsmooth potentials and dynamic boundary condition are considered and some well-posedness and regularity results are proved. Key words: Cahn-Hilliard equation, dynamic boundary conditions, phase separation, irregular potentials, well-posedness.
This paper studies two well-known models for two-phase fluid flow at constant temperature, the isothermal Navier-Stokes-Allen-Cahn and the isothermal Navier-Stokes-Cahn-Hilliard equations, both of which consist of equations for the (total) fluid density rho, the (mass-averaged)velocity u and the concentration (of one of the phases,) c. Assuming in either case that both phases are incompressible with different densities, each of the models is shown to reduce to a system of evolution equations in rho and u alone. In the case of the Navier-Stokes-Allen-Cahn model, this reduced system is the class…
In this paper the study of a nonlocal second order Cahn-Hilliard-type singularly perturbed family of functions is undertaken. The kernels considered include those leading to Gagliardo fractional seminorms for gradients. Using Gamma convergence the integral representation of the limit energy is characterized leading to an anisotropic surface energy on interfaces separating different phases.
Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes system describes the evolution of two isothermal, incompressible, immiscible fluids in a bounded domain. In this work, we consider the stationary nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes system in two and three dimensions with singular potential. We prove the existence of a weak solution for the system using pseudo-monotonicity arguments and Browder's theorem. Further we establish the uniqueness and regularity results for the weak solution of the stationary nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes system for constant mobility parameter and viscosity. Finally, in two dimensi…
Phase field models recently gained a lot of interest in the context of tumour growth models. Typically Darcy-type flow models are coupled to Cahn-Hilliard equations. However, often Stokes or Brinkman flows are more appropriate flow models. We introduce and mathematically analyse a new Cahn-Hilliard-Brinkman model for tumour growth allowing for chemotaxis. Outflow boundary conditions are considered in order not to influence tumour growth by artificial boundary conditions. Existence of global-in-time weak solutions is shown in a very general setting.
We investigate a non-isothermal viscous relaxation of some nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equations. This perturbation problem generates a family of solution operators, exhibiting dissipation and conservation. The solution operators admit a family of compact global attractors that are bounded in a more regular phase-space.
We provide a rigorous mathematical framework to establish the limit of a nonlocal model of cell-cell adhesion system to a local model. When the parameter of the nonlocality goes to 0, the system tends to a Cahn-Hilliard system with degenerate mobility and cross interaction forces. Our analysis relies on a priori estimates and compactness properties.
We study initial boundary value problems for the convective Cahn-Hilliard equation $\Dt u +\px^4u +u\px u+\px^2(|u|^pu)=0$. It is well-known that without the convective term, the solutions of this equation may blow up in finite time for any $p>0$. In contrast to that, we show that the presence of the convective term $u\px u$ in the Cahn-Hilliard equation prevents blow up at least for $0<p<\frac49$. We also show that the blowing up solutions still exist if $p$ is large enough ($p\ge2$). The related equations like Kolmogorov-Sivashinsky-Spiegel equation, sixth order convective Cahn-Hilliard equa…
The well-posedness for a system of partial differential equations and dynamic boundary conditions is discussed. This system is a sort of transmission problem between the dynamics in the bulk $Ω$ and on the boundary $Γ$. The Poisson equation for the chemical potential, the Allen-Cahn equation for the order parameter in the bulk $Ω$ are considered as auxiliary conditions for solving the Cahn-Hilliard equation on the boundary $Γ$. Recently the well-posedness for the equation and dynamic boundary condition, both of Cahn-Hilliard type, was discussed. Based on this result, the existence of the solut…
We construct rigorously suitable approximate solutions to the Stokes/Cahn-Hilliard system by using the method of matched asymptotics expansions. This is a main step in the proof of convergence given in the first part of this contribution, where the rigorous sharp interface limit of a coupled Stokes/Cahn-Hilliard system in a two dimensional, bounded and smooth domain is shown. As a novelty compared to earlier works, we introduce fractional order terms, which are of significant importance, but share the problematic feature that they may not be uniformly estimated in $ε$ in arbitrarily strong nor…
In this paper, we consider the almost sure well-posedness of the Cauchy problem to the Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes equation with a randomization initial data on a torus $\mathbb{T}^3$. First, we prove the local existence and uniqueness of solution. Furthermore, we prove the global existence and uniqueness of solution and give the relative probability estimate under the condition of small initial data.
We study the infinite-energy solutions of the Cahn-Hilliard equation in the whole 3D space in uniformly local phase spaces. In particular, we establish the global existence of solutions for the case of regular potentials of arbitrary polynomial growth and for the case of sufficiently strong singular potentials. For these cases, the uniqueness and further regularity of the obtained solutions are proved as well. We discuss also the analogous problems for the case of the so-called Cahn-Hilliard-Oono equation where, in addition, the dissipativity of the associated solution semigroup is established…
In this paper, we continue the study of the hyperbolic relaxation of the Cahn-Hilliard-Oono equation with the sub-quintic non-linearity in the whole space $\R^3$ started in our previous paper and verify that under the natural assumptions on the non-linearity and the external force, the fractal dimension of the associated global attractor in the natural energy space is finite.
This paper deals with a parabolic-elliptic chemotaxis system with nonlinear diffusion. It was proved that there exists a solution of a Cahn-Hilliard system as an approximation of a nonlinear diffusion equation by applying an abstract theory by Colli-Visintin [Comm. Partial Differential Equations 15 (1990), 737-756] for a doubly nonlinear evolution inclusion with some bounded monotone operator and subdifferential operator of a proper lower semicontinuous convex function (cf. Colli-Fukao [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 429 (2015), 1190-1213]). Moreover, Colli-Fukao [J. Differential Equations 260 (2016), 6…
In this paper, we study the sharp interface limit for solutions of the Cahn-Hilliard equation with disparate mobilities. This means that the mobility function degenerates in one of the two energetically favorable configurations, suppressing the diffusion in that phase. First, we construct suitable weak solutions to this Cahn-Hilliard equation. Second, we prove precompactness of these solutions under natural assumptions on the initial data. Third, under an additional energy convergence assumption, we show that the sharp interface limit is a distributional solution to the Hele-Shaw flow with opt…
In the present work, we address a class of Cahn-Hilliard equations characterized by a singular diffusion term. The problem is a simplified version with constant mobility of the Cahn-Hilliard-de Gennes model of phase separation in binary, incompressible, isothermal mixtures of polymer molecules. It is proved that, for any final time T, the problem admits a unique energy type weak solution, defined over (0,T). For any s > 0 such solution is classical in the sense of belonging to a suitable Hoelder class over (s,T), and enjoys the property of being separated from the singular values corresponding…
The Keller-Segel model is a well-known system representing chemotaxis in living organisms. We study the convergence of a generalized nonlinear variant of the Keller-Segel to the degenerate Cahn-Hilliard system. This analysis is made possible from the observation that the Keller-Segel system is equivalent to a relaxed version of the Cahn-Hilliard system. Furthermore, this latter equivalent system has an interesting application in the modelling of living tissues. Indeed, compressible and incompressible porous medium type equations are widely used to describe the mechanical properties of living t…
We study the sharp interface limit of a non-mass-conserving Cahn--Hilliard--Darcy system with the weak compactness method developed in Chen (J. Differential Geometry, 1996). The source term present in the Cahn--Hilliard component is a product of the order parameter and a prescribed function with zero spatial mean, leading to non-conservation of mass. Furthermore, the divergence of the velocity field is given by another prescribed function with zero spatial mean, which yields a coupling of the Cahn--Hilliard equation to a non-solenoidal Darcy flow. New difficulties arise in the derivation of un…
An advective Cahn-Hilliard model motivated by thin film formation is studied in this paper. The one-dimensional evolution equation under consideration includes a transport term, whose presence prevents from identifying a gradient flow structure. Existence and uniqueness of solutions, together with continuous dependence on the initial data and an energy equality are proved by combining a minimizing movement scheme with a fixed point argument. Finally, it is shown that, when the contribution of the transport term is small, the equation possesses a global attractor and converges, as the transport…
Mechanical effects have mostly been neglected so far in phase field tumour models that are based on a Cahn-Hilliard approach. In this paper we study a macroscopic mechanical model for tumour growth in which cell-cell adhesion effects are taken into account with the help of a Ginzburg--Landau type energy. In the overall model an equation of Cahn-Hilliard type is coupled to the system of linear elasticity and a reaction-diffusion equation for a nutrient concentration. The highly non-linear coupling between a fourth-order Cahn-Hilliard equation and the quasi-static elasticity system lead to new c…
In this paper, we are concerned with the well-posedness and large time behavior of Cauchy problem for 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes-Cahn-Hilliard equations. First, using Banach fixed point theorem, we establish the local well-posedness of solutions. Second, assuming $\|(u_0,\nablaϕ_0)\|_{\dot{H}^\frac12}$ is sufficiently small, we obtain the global well-posedness of solutions. Moreover, the optimal decay rates of the higher-order spatial derivatives of the solution are also obtained.
In this paper we derive optimal algebraic-in-time relaxation rates to the kink for the Cahn-Hilliard equation on the line. We assume that the initial data have a finite distance---in terms of either a first moment or the excess mass---to a kink profile and capture the decay rate of the energy and the perturbation. Our tools include Nash-type inequalities, duality arguments, and Schauder estimates.
The Cauchy problem of the Cahn-Hilliard equations is studied in three-dimensional space. Firstly, we construct its approximate fourth-order parabolic equation, obtaining the existence of solutions by the Aubin-Lions's compactness lemma. Furthermore, we prove the uniqueness of the solution. Then, the global well-posedness is demonstrated by using energy estimates. At last, we consider a special case and get a better result about it.
The well-posedness of a system of partial differential equations and dynamic boundary conditions, both of Cahn-Hilliard type, is discussed. The existence of a weak solution and its continuous dependence on the data are proved using a suitable setting for the conservation of a total mass in the bulk plus the boundary. A very general class of double-well like potentials is allowed. Moreover, some further regularity is obtained to guarantee the strong solution.
We prove the global well-posedness of the so-called hyperbolic relaxation of the Cahn-Hilliard-Oono equation in the whole space R^3 with the non-linearity of the sub-quintic growth rate. Moreover, the dissipativity and the existence of a smooth global attractor in the naturally defined energy space is also verified. The result is crucially based on the Strichartz estimates for the linear Scroedinger equation in R^3.
We study the well-posedness of a coupled Cahn-Hilliard-Stokes-Darcy system which is a diffuse-interface model for essentially immiscible two phase incompressible flows with matched density in a karstic geometry. Existence of finite energy weak solution that is global in time is established in both 2D and 3D. Weak-strong uniqueness property of the weak solutions is provided as well.
In this paper we prove the convergence of a nonlocal version of the Cahn-Hilliard equation to its local counterpart as the nonlocal convolution kernel is scaled using suitable approximations of a Dirac delta in a periodic boundary conditions setting. This convergence result strongly relies on the dynamics of the problem. More precisely, the $H^{-1}$-gradient flow structure of the equation allows to deduce uniform $H^1$ estimates for solutions of the nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation and, together with a Poincaré type inequality by Ponce, provides the compactness argument that allows to prove the…
The Cahn-Hilliard reaction model, a nonlinear, evolutionary PDE, was introduced to model phase separation in lithium-ion batteries. Using Butler-Volmer kinetics for electrochemical consistency, this model allows lithium-ions to enter the domain via a nonlinear Robin-type boundary condition $\partial_νμ= R(c,μ)$ for the chemical potential $μ$, with $c$, the lithium-ion density. Importantly, $R$ depends exponentially on $μ$. Fixed point methods are applied to obtain existence of regular solutions of the Cahn-Hilliard reaction model in dimension $3,$ allowing for recovery of exponential boundary …
This paper deals with the Cauchy-Dirichlet problem for the fractional Cahn-Hilliard equation. The main results consist of global (in time) existence of weak solutions, characterization of parabolic smoothing effects (implying under proper condition eventual boundedness of trajectories), and convergence of each solution to a (single) equilibrium. In particular, to prove the convergence result, a variant of the so-called Łojasiewicz-Simon inequality is provided for the fractional Dirichlet Laplacian and (possibly) non-analytic (but $C^1$) nonlinearities.
We study a diffuse interface model for incompressible isothermal mixtures of two immiscible fluids coupling the Navier--Stokes system with a convective nonlocal Cahn--Hilliard equation in two dimensions of space. We apply recently proved well-posedness and regularity results in order to establish existence of optimal controls as well as first-order necessary optimality conditions for an associated optimal control problem in which a distributed control is applied to the fluid flow.
The paper deals with a phase field system of Cahn-Hilliard type. For positive viscosity coefficients, the authors prove an existence and uniqueness result and study the long time behavior of the solution by assuming the nonlinearities to be rather general. In a more restricted setting, the limit as the viscosity coefficients tend to zero is investigated as well.
Existence and uniqueness of solutions for nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equations with degenerate potential is shown. The nonlocality is described by means of a symmetric singular kernel not falling within the framework of any previous existence theory. A convection term is also taken into account. Building upon this novel existence result, we prove convergence of solutions for this class of nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equations to their local counterparts, as the nonlocal convolution kernels approximate a Dirac delta. Eventually, we show that, under suitable assumptions on the data, the solutions to the …
In this paper the well-posedness of some degenerate parabolic equations with a dynamic boundary condition is considered. To characterize the target degenerate parabolic equation from the Cahn-Hilliard system, the nonlinear term coming from the convex part of the double-well potential is chosen using a suitable maximal monotone graph. The main topic of this paper is the existence problem under an assumption for this maximal monotone graph for treating a wider class. The existence of a weak solution is proved.
We introduce a fractional variant of the Cahn-Hilliard equation settled in a bounded domain $Ω$ of $R^N$ and complemented with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions of solid type (i.e., imposed in the entire complement of $Ω$). After setting a proper functional framework, we prove existence and uniqueness of weak solutions to the related initial-boundary value problem. Then, we investigate some significant singular limits obtained as the order of either of the fractional Laplacians appearing in the equation is let tend to 0. In particular, we can rigorously prove that the fractional Allen-…
