On the sputtering of metals and insulators: A nonlinear evolution problem with nonlinear boundary condition (Q1194496)

For a given \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^ N\), \(N\geq 1\) with smooth boundary \(\partial\Omega\), the following nonlinear evolution problem for a degenerate parabolic equation is considered \[ u_ t=\Delta\varphi(u)\quad\text{in }\Omega\times\mathbb{R}^ +,\quad{\partial\varphi(u)\over\partial n}=- \beta(\varphi(u))\quad\text{on }\partial\Omega\times\mathbb{R}^ +,\quad u(x,0)=u_ 0(x)\geq 0\quad\text{in }\Omega. \] The function \(\varphi\in C^ 3(\mathbb{R}^ +)\cap C^ 1(\overline{\mathbb{R}}^ +)\), \(\varphi(0)=\varphi'(0)=0\), \(\varphi'(s)>0\) for \(s>0\). The function \(\beta\) is Lipschitz-continuous, \(\beta(0)=0\), \(\beta(s)>0\) for \(s>0\). The initial datum \(u_ 0\in L^ \infty(\Omega)\). This evolution problem is related to a thermal evaporation from heated surfaces. Its main mathematical feature is the fact that the function \(\beta\) in the nonlinear boundary condition is allowed to be non-monotonic. The aim of the paper is to prove that Lipschitz continuity of \(\beta\) is sufficient to guarantee existence and uniqueness of weak solutions. The proof of the existence theorem is achieved by means of parabolic regularization and a compactness argument. Uniqueness is proved by comparing an arbitrary weak solution with a solution obtained as the limit of a sequence of classical solutions. The analysis is completed by the investigation of the large time behaviour of the solution.