Pattern formation of the stationary Cahn-Hilliard model (Q4374792)

The paper deals with the study of critical points for the free energy \(E_\varepsilon (u)\) of the Cahn-Hilliard model over the unit square under the constraint of a mean value \(\lambda\). It is shown that, if \(\varepsilon >0\) is sufficiently small, then for any fixed \(\lambda\) in the spinodal region (where the potential \(W\) is concave) and to any mode of infinite class, there exist critical points of \(E_\varepsilon\) having the characteristic symmetries of that mode. An asymptotic analysis shows that if \(\varepsilon\) tends to 0 then these critical points have singular limits forming characteristic patterns for each mode. In what concerns the relative stability in the class of functions having the same symmetries, it is remarkable that any singular limit is stable. More precisely, this means that, apart from two exceptional cases, every singular limit is a local minimizer in \(L^\infty \). The results are clear and well explained and the approach is based on a global bifurcation analysis of critical points of the free energy.