Traveling curved fronts of anisotropic curvature flows (Q2493492)

The authors study the two-dimensional anisotropic curvature flow \[ \begin{cases} V_n =-\Psi(\theta)(\Psi(\theta)+\Psi''(\theta))\kappa +a\Psi(\theta),\\ \Gamma_t|_{t=0}=\Gamma_0\end{cases}. \] Here \(V_n\) is the normal velocity of the interface \(\Gamma_t\), \(\Psi(\theta)\) is the surface free energy, which depends on the angle \(\theta\) between the \(x\)-axis and the normal vector, \(\kappa\) is curvature, and \(a\) is a constant related to the energy difference between the two states [see \textit{S. Angenent} and \textit{M. E. Gurtin}, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 108, No. 4, 323--391 (1989; Zbl 0723.73017)]. Assume the interface is a graph, and is represented by the level set \(\Gamma_t = \{(x,y)|u(x,t)=y\}\). Then \(u\) satisfies a parabolic equation \[ \begin{cases} u_t=\frac{G_1(u_x)}{1+u_x^2}u_{xx}+G_2(u_x), \;(x,t) \in \mathbb R \times (0,\infty),\\ u(x,0) =u_0(x), \;\;x\in \mathbb R\end{cases}, \] where the functions \(G_i(u_x)\) depend on \(\Psi(\theta(u_x))\). A \textit{traveling curved front} is a solution of the form \(u(x,t)=\phi(x-c_1,t)+c_2t,\) \(c_i\) constants, where \(\phi\) has two asymptotic lines as \(x\rightarrow \pm \infty\). The authors prove the existence of a traveling curved front solution for any given pair of asymptotic lines, by constructing supersolutions and subsolutions. They further prove stability, in the sense that if \(u\) is any solution with two asymptotic lines and \(u_0\) satisfies a linear growth condition, then \(u\) converges to a traveling curved front solution with the same asymptotic lines.