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The gradient theory of phase transitions for systems with two potential wells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2011

Irene Fonseca
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, U.S.A.
Luc Tartar
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, U.S.A.

Synopsis

In this paper we generalise the gradient theory of phase transitions to the vector valued case. We consider the family of perturbations

of the nonconvex functional

where W:RN→R supports two phases and N ≧1. We obtain the Γ(L1(Ω))-limit of the sequence

Moreover, we improve a compactness result ensuring the existence of a subsequence of minimisers of Eε(·) converging in L1(Ω) to a minimiser of E0(·) with minimal interfacial area.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1989

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