Vanishing diffusion in a dynamic boundary condition for the Cahn–Hilliard equation

Abstract

The initial boundary value problem for a Cahn–Hilliard system subject to a dynamic boundary condition of Allen–Cahn type is treated. The vanishing of the surface diffusion on the dynamic boundary condition is the point of emphasis. By the asymptotic analysis as the diffusion coefficient tends to 0, one can expect that the solutions of the surface diffusion problem converge to the solution of the problem without the surface diffusion. This is actually the case, but the solution of the limiting problem naturally looses some regularity. Indeed, the system we investigate is rather complicate due to the presence of nonlinear terms including general maximal monotone graphs both in the bulk and on the boundary. The two graphs are related each to the other by a growth condition, with the boundary graph that dominates the other one. In general, at the asymptotic limit a weaker form of the boundary condition is obtained, but in the case when the two graphs exhibit the same growth the boundary condition still holds almost everywhere.