Asymptotic analysis for the radial minimizer of a second-order energy functional (Q2567302)

Let \(B\) denote the open unit ball in \(\mathbb R^n\), where \(n\in\{ 2,3,4\}\). The present paper is devoted to the minimization of the Ginzburg-Landau type energy \[ E_\varepsilon (u,B)=2^{-1}\int_B| \Delta u| ^2\,dx+ {(4\varepsilon^4)}^{-1}\int_B(1-| u| ^2)^2\,dx \quad (\varepsilon>0), \] on the class \(W=\{u(x)=f(r)x/| x| \in H^2(B,\mathbb R^n);\;f(1)=1,\;r=| x| \}\). The main results of the paper are related to the asymptotic behaviour of the radial minimizer as \(\varepsilon\rightarrow 0\). These results concern the location of zeros, uniqueness of the radial minimizer if \(\varepsilon\) is small, \(H^2\) convergence, and inner convergence. The proofs rely on standard elliptic estimates and variational methods.