Degenerate regularization of forward-backward parabolic equations: the vanishing viscosity limit (Q1938062)

Motivated by the Perona-Malik equation in one dimension the authors study the ill-posed initial boundary value problem \[ \begin{cases} U_t = [\varphi(U)]_{xx} & \text{in } \Omega \times (0,T], \\ \varphi(U) = 0 & \text{on } \partial\Omega \times (0,T], \\ U = U_0 & \text{on } \Omega \times \{0\},\end{cases} \] where \(\Omega\) is a bounded interval and \(T > 0\). The function \(\varphi\) is odd, \(\varphi(s) > 0\) for \(s > 0\), \(\varphi'(s) > 0\) for \(0 < s < \alpha\), \(\varphi'(s) < 0\) for \(s > \alpha\), \(\varphi''(s) \geq 0\) for \(s > s_0\) and \(\varphi^{(j)} \in L^\infty\) for \(j \in {\mathbb N}\). They construct measure-valued solutions which are vanishing viscosity limits of the regularized problem \[ \begin{cases} U_t^\epsilon = [\varphi(U^\epsilon)]_{xx} + \epsilon[\psi(U^\epsilon)]_{txx} & \text{in } \Omega \times (0,T],\\ \varphi(U^\epsilon) + \epsilon[\psi(U^\epsilon)]_t = 0 & \text{on } \partial\Omega \times (0,T], \\ U^\epsilon = U_0 & \text{on } \Omega \times \{0\}\end{cases} \] for an appropriately defined function \(\psi\). The authors go on to investigate the structure of these measure-valued solutions and describe them as follows: ``In general, these solutions are the sum of a regular term, which is absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure, and a singular term, which is a Radon measure singular with respect to the other. By using a family of entropy inequalities, we prove that the singular term is nondecreasing in time. We also characterize the disintegration of the Young measure associated with the regular term, proving that it is a superposition of two Dirac masses with support on the branches of the graph of the nonlinearity \(\varphi\).''