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Heteroclinic connections for multiple-well potentials: the anisotropic case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2008

Vangelis Stefanopoulos
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Cyprus, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus ([email protected])

Abstract

We investigate the existence of solutions to systems of N differential equations representing connections between minima of potentials with several equal depths in ℝn. Using variational techniques and in particular a method introduced by Alikakos and Fusco we first prove such existence for N ≥ 2 and two minima. Dealing next with symmetric potentials corresponding to bulk free energies in crystals, we establish existence for N ≥ 2 in various cases of more than two minima. Finally, we obtain a sufficient condition establishing existence of connections to potentials which are not necessarily symmetric for arbitrary N and three minima.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 2008

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