Analyticity of thermo-elastic semigroups with coupled hinged/Neumann boundary conditions.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s surface physicists/metallurgists such as Herring and Mullins applied ingenious thermodynamic arguments to explain a number of experimentally observed surface phenomena in crystals. These insights permitted the successful engineering of a large number of alloys, where the major mathematical novelty was that the surface response to external stress was anisotropic. By examining step/terrace (vicinal) surface defects it was discovered through lengthy and tedious experiments...
In the 1950's and 1960's surface physicists/metallurgists such as Herring and Mullins applied ingenious thermodynamic arguments to explain a number of experimentally observed surface phenomena in crystals. These insights permitted the successful engineering of a large number of alloys, where the major mathematical novelty was that the surface response to external stress was anisotropic. By examining step/terrace (vicinal) surface defects it was discovered through lengthy and tedious experiments...
We survey some recent results on the gradient flow of an anisotropic surface energy, the integrand of which is one-homogeneous in the normal vector. We discuss the reasons for assuming convexity of the anisotropy, and we review some known results in the smooth, mixed and crystalline case. In particular, we recall the notion of calibrability and the related facet-breaking phenomenon. Minimal barriers as weak solutions to the gradient flow in case of nonsmooth anisotropies are proposed. Furthermore,...