A Cahn-Hilliard equation with singular diffusion (Q695088)

The authors present a mathematical analysis of a class of Cahn-Hilliard equations characterized by a singular diffusion term. As remarked by the authors, this class of equations is a variant of the Cahn-Hilliard model for phase separation in binary material and a simplified version with constant mobility of the Cahn-Hilliard-de Gennes model of phase separation in binary, incompressible, isothermal mixtures of polymer molecules. Their analysis is based on two main ideas: they exploit the variational structure of the Cahn-Hilliard system and they also use convenient changes of variables. For any final time \(T\), they prove the existence of a unique energy type weak solution, defined over \((0, T )\). For any \(\tau > 0\), they also prove that the weak solution is a local in time classical one. That is, it belongs to a suitable Hölder class over \((\tau , T )\). It also enjoys the property of being separated from the singular values corresponding to the pure phases.