Global minimizers of coexistence for competing species

A class of variational models describing ecological systems of k species competing for the same resources is investigated. The occurrence of coexistence in minimal energy solutions is discussed and positive results are proven for suitably differentiated internal dynamics

Coexistence and Segregation for Strongly Competing Species in Special Domains

We deal with strongly competing multispecies systems of Lotka-Volterra type with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. For a class of nonconvex domains composed by balls connected with thin corridors, we show the occurrence of pattern formation (coexistence and spatial segregation of all the species), as the competition grows indefinitely. As a result we prove the existence and uniqueness of solutions for a remarkable system of differential inequalities involved in segregation phenomena and optimal partition problems

Timoshenko systems with fading memory

The decay properties of the semigroup generated by a linear Timoshenko system with fading memory are discussed. Uniform stability is shown to occur within a necessary and sufficient condition on the memory kernel

Attractors for processes on time-dependent spaces. Applications to wave equations

For a process U(t,s) acting on a one-parameter family of normed spaces, we present a notion of time-dependent attractor based only on the minimality with respect to the pullback attraction property. Such an attractor is shown to be invariant whenever the process is T-closed for some T>0, a much weaker property than continuity (defined in the text). As a byproduct, we generalize the recent theory of attractors in time-dependent spaces developed in [10]. Finally, we exploit the new framework to study the longterm behavior of wave equations with time-dependent speed of propagation

On the Cahn-Hilliard-Brinkman system

We consider a diffuse interface model for phase separation of an isothermal incompressible binary fluid in a Brinkman porous medium. The coupled system consists of a convective Cahn-Hilliard equation for the phase field $\phi$, i.e., the difference of the (relative) concentrations of the two phases, coupled with a modified Darcy equation proposed by H.C. Brinkman in 1947 for the fluid velocity $\mathbf{u}$. This equation incorporates a diffuse interface surface force proportional to $\phi \nabla \mu$, where $\mu$ is the so-called chemical potential. We analyze the well-posedness of the resulting Cahn-Hilliard-Brinkman (CHB) system for $(\phi,\mathbf{u})$. Then we establish the existence of a global attractor and the convergence of a given (weak) solution to a single equilibrium via {\L}ojasiewicz-Simon inequality. Furthermore, we study the behavior of the solutions as the viscosity goes to zero, that is, when the CHB system approaches the Cahn-Hilliard-Hele-Shaw (CHHS) system. We first prove the existence of a weak solution to the CHHS system as limit of CHB solutions. Then, in dimension two, we estimate the difference of the solutions to CHB and CHHS systems in terms of the viscosity constant appearing in CHB

Averaging of equations of viscoelasticity with singularly oscillating external forces

Given $\rho\in[0,1]$, we consider for $\varepsilon\in(0,1]$ the nonautonomous viscoelastic equation with a singularly oscillating external force $$\partial_{tt} u-\kappa(0)\Delta u - \int_0^\infty \kappa'(s)\Delta u(t-s) d s +f(u)=g_{0}(t)+\varepsilon ^{-\rho }g_{1}(t/\varepsilon )$$ together with the {\it averaged} equation $$\partial_{tt} u-\kappa(0)\Delta u - \int_0^\infty \kappa'(s)\Delta u(t-s) d s +f(u)=g_{0}(t).$$ Under suitable assumptions on the nonlinearity and on the external force, the related solution processes $S_\varepsilon(t,\tau)$ acting on the natural weak energy space ${\mathcal H}$ are shown to possess uniform attractors ${\mathcal A}^\varepsilon$. Within the further assumption $\rho<1$, the family ${\mathcal A}^\varepsilon$ turns out to be bounded in ${\mathcal H}$, uniformly with respect to $\varepsilon\in[0,1]$. The convergence of the attractors ${\mathcal A}^\varepsilon$ to the attractor ${\mathcal A}^0$ of the averaged equation as $\varepsilon\to 0$ is also established