Asymptotic solutions of the Cahn-Hilliard system in the fast relaxation case (Q1585406)

The authors study the system \[ \begin{aligned} {\partial\over\partial t} (\vartheta+\varphi) &= \Delta\vartheta+ f(x,t),\\ -k\varepsilon{\partial\varphi\over \partial t} &= \Delta(\varepsilon^2\Delta\varphi+ \varphi- \varphi^3+ \varepsilon g(\vartheta)),\end{aligned}\tag{1} \] describing the separation of nonisothermal phases in a medium consisting of two ground phases (the solid one and the liquid one) and the so-called transition zone. Here \(x\in\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^n\), and \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain with \(C^\infty\)-smooth boundary \(\partial\Omega\) for \(n= 2,3\). The function \(\vartheta\) is the Kelvin temperature, \(\varphi\) is the phase function (the concentration), \(f\) and \(g\) are given smooth functions, and \(k\) is a constant. The initial conditions \[ \vartheta|_{t= 0}= \vartheta^0(x,\varepsilon),\quad \varphi|_{t=0}= \varphi^0(x,\varepsilon)\tag{2} \] and the boundary conditions \[ {\partial\vartheta\over\partial N}\Biggl|_\Sigma= 0,\quad {\partial\varphi\over\partial N}\Biggr|_\Sigma= 0,\quad {\partial\over\partial N} \Delta\varphi\Biggl|_\Sigma= 0\tag{3} \] are considered. Here \(\vartheta^0\), \(\varphi^0\) are certain smooth (for \(\varepsilon> 0\)) functions satisfying limit relations for \(\varepsilon\to 0\), and \(N\) is the exterior normal to \(\partial\Omega\), \(\Sigma= [0,T]\times \partial\Omega\) and \(T> 0\). The authors construct the asymptotic solution of the problem (1), (2), (3) and they estimate the difference between the asymptotic solution and the exact solution of (1), (2), (3).