Inertial manifolds and inertial sets for the phase-field equations (Q1188338)

The authors investigate the evolution system \((*)\) \(\tau\varphi_ t=\xi^ 2\Delta\varphi+\varphi-\varphi^ 3+2u\), \(u_ t+{1\over 2}a\varphi_ t=K\Delta u\) which is known as the ``phase field equations''. \(u\) is the temperature, \(\varphi\) an order parameter familiar in the Landau-Ginzburg theory of phase transitions; \(a,\tau,\xi,K\) are physical constants. System \((*)\) is considered in a bounded domain \(\Omega\subseteq R^ n\), \(n\leq 3\) with smooth boundary \(\Gamma\). One considers an initial boundary value problem in a suitable function space setting and seeks information about the asymptotic behaviour of solution trajectories of \((*)\). The initial data \(\varphi_ 0,u_ 0\) are in \(H^ 1(\Omega)\) and \(L^ 2(\Omega)\), respectively. Then it is shown (Thm. 1.1) that there exists a unique global solution \(\varphi\in C(R_ +,H^ 1)\), \(u\in C(R_ +,L^ 2)\) which has a number of regularity properties. Thus a global, nonlinear semigroup \(S(t)\), \(t\geq 0\) is defined by this result. It is then shown (Thm. 1.3) that \(S(t)\), \(t\geq 0\) has a global, maximal attractor in \(H^ 2(\Omega)\times H^ 2(\Omega)\), compact and connected in \(H^ 1(\Omega)\times L^ 2(\Omega)\), attracting bounded sets in \(H^ 1(\Omega)\times L^ 2(\Omega)\). The system \((*)\) is then transformed into an equivalent one \((**)\) which is accessible to the methods of \textit{R. Temam} [Infinite- dimensional dynamical systems in mechanics and physics (1988; Zbl 0662.35001)]. The existence of an inertial manifold for \((**)\) is then proved for dimensions \(n\leq 2\) and for the case of a nonsmooth rectangle. For \(n=3\) the proof breaks down because the spectral gap condition is not satisfied. As a substitute, the existence of a so called inertial set is proved (Thm. 3.2). Finally, the dynamics of the flow is discussed when (under other boundary conditions) it is restricted to surfaces of constant energy.