On the parabolicity of the Muskat problem: Well-posedness, fingering, and stability results (Q537681)

The authors study the 2D mathematical model of a flow of two incompressible and immiscible Newtonian fluids. The potentials of the velocities and the interface \(\Gamma(t)\) have be found. It is proved that, if the initial interface \(\Gamma(0)\) is the graph of a function which is small in a certain Banach space, then locally in time the problem possesses a unique classical Hölder solution. This result is established by reducing the free boundary problem to the an abstract evolution equation in a fixed domain. The exponential stability of some flat equilibrium is obtained in the paper. Using bifurcation theory, the authors find finger-shaped steady-states which are all unstable.