No Arabic abstract
We present a computer-assisted proof of heteroclinic connections in the one-dimensional Ohta-Kawasaki model of diblock copolymers. The model is a fourth-order parabolic partial differential equation subject to homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions, which contains as a special case the celebrated Cahn-Hilliard equation. While the attractor structure of the latter model is completely understood for one-dimensional domains, the diblock copolymer extension exhibits considerably richer long-term dynamical behavior, which includes a high level of multistability. In this paper, we establish the existence of certain heteroclinic connections between the homogeneous equilibrium state, which represents a perfect copolymer mixture, and all local and global energy minimizers. In this way, we show that not every solution originating near the homogeneous state will converge to the global energy minimizer, but rather is trapped by a stable state with higher energy. This phenomenon can not be observed in the one-dimensional Cahn-Hillard equation, where generic solutions are attracted by a global minimizer.
We study a graph based version of the Ohta-Kawasaki functional, which was originally introduced in a continuum setting to model pattern formation in diblock copolymer melts and has been studied extensively as a paradigmatic example of a variational model for pattern formation. Graph based problems inspired by partial differential equations (PDEs) and varational methods have been the subject of many recent papers in the mathematical literature, because of their applications in areas such as image processing and data classification. This paper extends the area of PDE inspired graph based problems to pattern forming models, while continuing in the tradition of recent papers in the field. We introduce a mass conserving Merriman-Bence-Osher (MBO) scheme for minimizing the graph Ohta-Kawasaki functional with a mass constraint. We present three main results: (1) the Lyapunov functionals associated with this MBO scheme $Gamma$-converge to the Ohta-Kawasaki functional (which includes the standard graph based MBO scheme and total variation as a special case); (2) there is a class of graphs on which the Ohta-Kawasaki MBO scheme corresponds to a standard MBO scheme on a transformed graph and for which generalized comparison principles hold; (3) this MBO scheme allows for the numerical computation of (approximate) minimizers of the graph Ohta-Kawasaki functional with a mass constraint.
The Ohta-Kawasaki model for diblock-copolymers is well known to the scientific community of diffuse-interface methods. To accurately capture the long-time evolution of the moving interfaces, we present a derivation of the corresponding sharp-interface limit using matched asymptotic expansions, and show that the limiting process leads to a Hele-Shaw type moving interface problem. The numerical treatment of the sharp-interface limit is more complicated due to the stiffness of the equations. To address this problem, we present a boundary integral formulation corresponding to a sharp interface limit of the Ohta-Kawasaki model. Starting with the governing equations defined on separate phase domains, we develop boundary integral equations valid for multi-connected domains in a 2D plane. For numerical simplicity we assume our problem is driven by a uniform Dirichlet condition on a circular far-field boundary. The integral formulation of the problem involves both double- and single-layer potentials due to the modified boundary condition. In particular, our formulation allows one to compute the nonlinear dynamics of a non-equilibrium system and pattern formation of an equilibrating system. Numerical tests on an evolving slightly perturbed circular interface (separating the two phases) are in excellent agreement with the linear analysis, demonstrating that the method is stable, efficient and spectrally accurate in space.
Plane Couette flow transitions to turbulence for Re~325 even though the laminar solution with a linear profile is linearly stable for all Re (Reynolds number). One starting point for understanding this subcritical transition is the existence of invariant sets in the state space of the Navier Stokes equation, such as upper and lower branch equilibria and periodic and relative periodic solutions, that are quite distinct from the laminar solution. This article reports several heteroclinic connections between such objects and briefly describes a numerical method for locating heteroclinic connections. Computing such connections is essential for understanding the global dynamics of spatially localized structures that occur in transitional plane Couette flow. We show that the nature of streaks and streamwise rolls can change significantly along a heteroclinic connection.
In this survey we present some recent results concerning computer-assisted proofs in partial differential equations, focusing in those coming from problems in incompressible fluids. Particular emphasis is put on the techniques, as opposed to the results themselves.
Equilibrium, traveling wave, and periodic orbit solutions of pipe, channel, and plane Couette flows can now be computed precisely at Reynolds numbers above the onset of turbulence. These invariant solutions capture the complex dynamics of wall-bounded rolls and streaks and provide a framework for understanding low-Reynolds turbulent shear flows as dynamical systems. We present fluid dynamics videos of plane Couette flow illustrating periodic orbits, a close pass of turbulent flow to a periodic orbit, and heteroclinic connections between unstable equilibria.