A Stefan/Mullins-Sekerka type problem with memory (Q1381910)

The author proves that an initial-boundary value problem to the equations \[ a_1u_t+ a_2w_t= \int^t_{-\infty} k(t-s)\Delta u(s)ds,\quad a_3 w_t= \Delta\mu, \] \[ (x,t)\in\Omega\times (0,\infty)\subseteq \mathbb{R}^n\times (0,\infty),\quad \mu+ 2u\in\partial\Gamma(u) \] has a globally existing solution. Here \(\partial\Gamma\) denotes the subgradient of the functional \[ \Gamma(w)= \begin{cases} \int_\Omega|\nabla w|< \infty,\quad &| w|\leq 1,\\ \infty,\quad & \text{otherwise}.\end{cases} \] The boundary and initial conditions are \[ n\cdot\nabla u= b,\quad n\cdot\nabla\mu= 0,\quad (x,t)\in\partial\Omega\times (0, \infty), \] \[ u(x,0)= u_0(x),\quad w(x,0)= w_0(x),\quad x\in\Omega. \] Moreover, the prehistory \(u(x,t)= u_h(x,t)\), \((x,t)\in\Omega\times (-\infty,0)\), is given. In these equations \(u\) denotes the temperature, \(w\) is a phase variable and \(\mu\) is a chemical potential. Existence is proven under the assumption that the memory kernel is of positive type; the initial data are assumed to be in the space \(\text{BV}(\Omega)\). To prove the result, a relaxed problem is considered. In this problem, the temperature field is frozen. For the resulting differential inclusion the existence of a solution is proven. Using a fixed point argument, it is shown that the full relaxed problem has a unique solution. The solution of the original problem is obtained from this solution by a limiting process.