Transition Layer for the Heterogeneous Allen-Cahn Equation

Abstract

We consider the equation $\e^{2}Δu=(u-a(x))(u^2-1)$ in $Ω$, $\frac{\partial u}{\partial ν} =0$ on $\partial Ω$, where $Ω$ is a smooth and bounded domain in $\R^n$, $ν$ the outer unit normal to $\paΩ$, and $a$ a smooth function satisfying $-1<a(x)<1$ in $\ovΩ$. We set $K$, $Ω_+$ and $Ω_-$ to be respectively the zero-level set of $a$, {a>0} and {a<0}. Assuming $\nabla a \neq 0$ on $K$ and $a\ne 0$ on $\partial Ω$, we show that there exists a sequence $\e_j \to 0$ such that the above equation has a solution $u_{\e_j}$ which converges uniformly to $\pm 1$ on the compact sets of $Ø_{\pm}$ as $j \to + \infty$.

25 pages