A variational principle for nonpotential perturbations of gradient flows of nonconvex energies (Q501635)

The author considers an abstract nonlinear dissipative evolution equation on a Hilbert space, describing a non-potential perturbation of a gradient flow driven by a possibly non-convex energy. The existence of the solution is shown by combining the variational approach, where the so-called weighted energy dissipation (WED) procedure is applied, and a fixed-point argument. The solutions are obtained as limits of solutions to the elliptic regularisation of the original problem. The presented techniques allow the application to the systems of gradient flows, such as reaction-diffusion equations.