Phase-field systems with vectorial order parameters including diffusional hysteresis effects (Q1866588)

Let \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N\), \(1\leq N\leq 3\), denote an open, bounded domain with smooth boundary \(\Gamma\) and unit outer normal field \(n\). The authors consider the system of partial differential equations \[ \left. \begin{aligned} &(\theta+ \lambda(\chi))_t- \Delta\alpha(\theta)= f(x,t)\\ & w_t- \gamma\Delta w-\alpha(\theta)\lambda'(\chi)= 0\\ & \chi_t- \mu\Delta\chi+ \partial I_Z(\chi)+ \widehat\sigma'(\chi)\ni w_t\end{aligned} \right\}\quad\text{in }\Omega\times (0,T), \] subject to the boundary conditions \[ {\partial\alpha(\theta)\over\partial n}+ n_0\alpha(\theta)= h(x,t),\quad{\partial w\over\partial n}={\partial\chi\over\partial n}= 0\quad\text{on }\Gamma \times(0,T) \] and to the initial conditions \(\theta(\cdot, 0)=\theta_0\), \(w(\cdot,0)= w_0\), \(\chi(\cdot,0)= \chi_0\), where \(\lambda,\widehat\sigma: \mathbb{R}^M\to\mathbb{R}\) are given smooth functions. Finally, \(Z\) denotes some nonempty, closed and convex subset of \(\mathbb{R}^M\) such that \(0\in Z\), \(I_Z\) denotes the indicator function of \(Z\), and \(\partial I_Z\) its associated subdifferential. The main goal of the authors is to derive a well-posedness result.