Stationary solutions for the Cahn-Hilliard equation (Q1265751)

The Cahn-Hilliard equation is an accepted macroscopic field-theoretical model of processes such as phase separation in a binary alloy. This equation is studied in a bounded domain without symmetry assumptions. It is assumed that the mean curvature of the boundary has a nondegenerate critical point. It is shown that there exists a spike-like stationary solution whose global maximum lies on the boundary. The derivation is based on Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction and the Brouwer fixed-point theorem.