Regularity and long-time behavior of nonlocal heat flows (Q745566)

The problem the paper deals with is motivated by the optimal partition problem consisting in the minimization of the quantity \[ \sum_{j=1}^m\lambda_1(\Omega_j) \] among all \(m\)-tuples \((\Omega_1,\dots,\Omega_m)\) of mutually disjoint sets with \[ \bigcup_{j=1}^m\overline\Omega_j=\overline\Omega. \] Here, \(\Omega\) is a given bounded domain of \({\mathbb R}^n\), \(m\geq1\) is a given positive integer, and \(\lambda_1(A)\) denotes the first eigenvalue of the Dirichlet Laplacian \(-\Delta\) on \(H^1_0(A)\). The optimization problem above can be equivalently rewritten as \[ \min\Big\{\int_\Omega|\nabla v|^2\,dx : v\in H^1_0(\Omega;{\mathbb R}^m),\;\int_\Omega v_j^2\,dx=1,\;v\in{\mathcal V}\Big\},\leqno{(1)} \] where \({\mathcal V}\) is the class of functions \[ {\mathcal V}=\Big\{v_j\geq0,\;\sum_{j\neq k}v_j^2v_k^2=0\Big\}. \] In the paper, the gradient flow of the variational problem (1) is studied. In particular, setting \[ F_\varepsilon(u)={1\over\varepsilon^2}\sum_{j<k}u_j^2u_k^2, \] the limit (as \(\varepsilon\to0\)) of the minimization problems \[ \min\Big\{\int_\Omega\big[|\nabla v|^2+2F_\varepsilon(v)\big]\,dx: v\in H^1_0(\Omega;{\mathbb R}^m),\;v=v_0\text{ on }\partial\Omega\Big\} \] is considered, together with the corresponding heat flow equation \[ \begin{cases} \partial_t u_j-\Delta u_j=\lambda_j(t)u_j-\dfrac{\partial F_\varepsilon(u)}{\partial u_j},\\ u(t,\cdot)\in H^1_0(\Omega),\, u(0,\cdot)=g,\end{cases} \] with the constraint \[ \int_\Omega u_j^2\,dx=\int_\Omega g_j^2\,dx. \] The main goal of the paper is the study of the heat flow above as \(\varepsilon\to0\). A suitable definition of weak solutions for the limit PDE is provided and the convergence, as \(t\to+\infty\), is shown to provide a solution for the optimal partition problem described above. Lipschitz continuity and regularity of free interfaces are then proved.