Classical gradient systems have a linear relation between rates and driving forces. In generalized gradient systems we allow for arbitrary relations derived from general non-quadratic dissipation potentials. This paper describes two natural origins for these structures. A first microscopic origin of generalized gradient structures is given by the theory of large-deviation principles. While Markovian diffusion processes lead to classical gradient structures, Poissonian jump processes give rise to cosh-type dissipation potentials. A second origin arises via a new form of convergence, that we call EDP-convergence. Even when starting with classical gradient systems, where the dissipation potential is a quadratic functional of the rate, we may obtain a generalized gradient system in the evolutionary $Gamma$-limit. As examples we treat (i) the limit of a diffusion equation having a thin layer of low diffusivity, which leads to a membrane model, and (ii) the limit of diffusion over a high barrier, which gives a reaction-diffusion system.
In this paper we present a variational technique that handles coarse-graining and passing to a limit in a unified manner. The technique is based on a duality structure, which is present in many gradient flows and other variational evolutions, and which often arises from a large-deviations principle. It has three main features: (A) a natural interaction between the duality structure and the coarse-graining, (B) application to systems with non-dissipative effects, and (C) application to coarse-graining of approximate solutions which solve the equation only to some error. As examples, we use this technique to solve three limit problems, the overdamped limit of the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equation and the small-noise limit of randomly perturbed Hamiltonian systems with one and with many degrees of freedom.
Within the framework of variational modelling we derive a one-phase moving boundary problem describing the motion of a semipermeable membrane enclosing a viscous liquid, driven by osmotic pressure and surface tension of the membrane. For this problem we prove the existence of classical solutions for a short time.
We construct a stochastic model showing the relationship between noise, gradient flows and rate-independent systems. The model consists of a one-dimensional birth-death process on a lattice, with rates derived from Kramers law as an approximation of a Brownian motion on a wiggly energy landscape. Taking various limits we show how to obtain a whole family of generalized gradient flows, ranging from quadratic to rate-independent ones, connected via $L log L$ gradient flows. This is achieved via Mosco-convergence of the renormalized large-deviations rate functional of the stochastic process.
We show how the mathematical structure of large-deviation principles matches well with the concept of coarse-graining. For those systems with a large-deviation principle, this may lead to a general approach to coarse-graining through the variational form of the large-deviation functional.
We develop a gradient-flow framework based on the Wasserstein metric for a parabolic moving-boundary problem that models crystal dissolution and precipitation. In doing so we derive a new weak formulation for this moving-boundary problem and we show that this formulation is well-posed. In addition, we develop a new uniqueness technique based on the framework of gradient flows with respect to the Wasserstein metric. With this uniqueness technique, the Wasserstein framework becomes a complete well-posedness setting for this parabolic moving-boundary problem.
We study the stability of layered structures in a variational model for diblock copolymer-homopolymer blends. The main step consists of calculating the first and second derivative of a sharp-interface Ohta-Kawasaki energy for straight mono- and bilayers. By developing the interface perturbations in a Fourier series we fully characterise the stability of the structures in terms of the energy parameters. In the course of our computations we also give the Greens function for the Laplacian on a periodic strip and explain the heuristic method by which we found it.
We study the H^{-1}-norm of the function 1 on tubular neighbourhoods of curves in R^2. We take the limit of small thickness epsilon, and we prove two different asymptotic results. The first is an asymptotic development for a fixed curve in the limit epsilon to 0, containing contributions from the length of the curve (at order epsilon^3), the ends (epsilon^4), and the curvature (epsilon^5). The second result is a Gamma-convergence result, in which the central curve may vary along the sequence epsilon to 0. We prove that a rescaled version of the H^{-1}-norm, which focuses on the epsilon^5 curvature term, Gamma-converges to the L^2-norm of curvature. In addition, sequences along which the rescaled norm is bounded are compact in the W^{1,2} -topology. Our main tools are the maximum principle for elliptic equations and the use of appropriate trial functions in the variational characterisation of the H^{-1}-norm. For the Gamma-convergence result we use the theory of systems of curves without transverse crossings to handle potential intersections in the limit.
We study a new formulation for the eikonal equation |grad u| =1 on a bounded subset of R^2. Instead of a vector field grad u, we consider a field P of orthogonal projections on 1-dimensional subspaces, with div P in L^2. We prove existence and uniqueness for solutions of the equation P div P=0. We give a geometric description, comparable with the classical case, and we prove that such solutions exist only if the domain is a tubular neighbourhood of a regular closed curve. The idea of the proof is to apply a generalized method of characteristics introduced in Jabin, Otto, Perthame, Line-energy Ginzburg-Landau models: zero-energy states, Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa Cl. Sci. (5) 1 (2002), to a suitable vector field m satisfying P = m otimes m. This formulation provides a useful approach to the analysis of stripe patterns. It is specifically suited to systems where the physical properties of the pattern are invariant under rotation over 180 degrees, such as systems of block copolymers or liquid crystals.
We study a variational model for a diblock-copolymer/homopolymer blend. The energy functional is a sharp-interface limit of a generalisation of the Ohta-Kawasaki energy. In one dimension, on the real line and on the torus, we prove existence of minimisers of this functional and we describe in complete detail the structure and energy of stationary points. Furthermore we characterise the conditions under which the minimisers may be non-unique. In higher dimensions we construct lower and upper bounds on the energy of minimisers, and explicitly compute the energy of spherically symmetric configurations.
