On scaling properties for two-state problems

Series
Math Physics Seminar
Time
Friday, September 12, 2025 - 11:00am for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Bogdan Raita – Georgetown University – bogdan.raita@georgetown.edu
Organizer
Tobias Ried

We study differential inclusions of the type $A v=0$ and $v \in K$, where $v$ is a vector field satisfying a linear PDE system $A$ and $K$ is a compact set. We are particularly interested in the case when $K$ consists of two vectors (\textit{two-state problem}). We consider Dirichlet boundary conditions for $v$, in which case the differential inclusion typically has no solutions. We study a suitable relaxation of the system, in which we penalize the surface energy required to switch between the two states. We study the asymptotics of the regularized energy integral. We show that the asymptotics depend polynomially on the regularization parameter with a quantification which — somewhat surprisingly — depends on the order of the linear PDE system $A$. Joint work with A. R\”{u}land, C. Tissot, A. Tribuzio.