On the convergence of the Ohta-Kawasaki Equation to motion by nonlocal Mullins-Sekerka Law

Nam Q. Le

Published 2009-12-01, updated 2010-04-28Version 2

In this paper, we establish the convergence of the Ohta-Kawasaki equation to motion by nonlocal Mullins-Sekerka law on any smooth domain in space dimensions $N\leq 3$. These equations arise in modeling microphase separation in diblock copolymers. The only assumptions that guarantee our convergence result are $(i)$ well-preparedness of the initial data and $(ii)$ smoothness of the limiting interface. Our method makes use of the "Gamma-convergence" of gradient flows scheme initiated by Sandier and Serfaty and the constancy of multiplicity of the limiting interface due to its smoothness. For the case of radially symmetric initial data without well-preparedness, we give a new and short proof of the result of M. Henry for all space dimensions. Finally, we establish transport estimates for solutions of the Ohta-Kawasaki equation characterizing their transport mechanism.