Unified framework for the separation property in binary phase-segregation processes with singular entropy densities

• Published in: European journal of applied mathematics Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 40 - 67
• Main Authors: Gal, Ciprian G., Poiatti, Andrea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01.02.2025
• Subjects: 35B36; 35K55; 35Q82; 35R09; 82C24; Cahn-Hilliard equations; De Giorgi’s iterations; Energy; Entropy; Particle interactions; Phase transitions; Separation; separation property; singular potential; Statistical mechanics
• ISSN: 0956-7925; 1469-4425
• DOI: 10.1017/S0956792524000196

This paper investigates the separation property in binary phase-segregation processes modelled by Cahn-Hilliard type equations with constant mobility, singular entropy densities and different particle interactions. Under general assumptions on the entropy potential, we prove the strict separation property in both two and three-space dimensions. Namely, in 2D, we notably extend the minimal assumptions on the potential adopted so far in the literature, by only requiring a mild growth condition of its first derivative near the singular points $\pm 1$ , without any pointwise additional assumption on its second derivative. For all cases, we provide a compact proof using De Giorgi’s iterations. In 3D, we also extend the validity of the asymptotic strict separation property to the case of fractional Cahn-Hilliard equation, as well as show the validity of the separation when the initial datum is close to an ‘energy minimizer’. Our framework offers insights into statistical factors like particle interactions, entropy choices and correlations governing separation, with broad applicability.