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Minimality via second variation for microphase separation of diblock copolymer melts

  • Vesa Julin EMAIL logo and Giovanni Pisante
Published/Copyright: January 27, 2015

Abstract

We consider a non-local isoperimetric problem arising as the sharp interface limit of the Ohta–Kawasaki free energy introduced to model microphase separation of diblock copolymers. We perform a second order variational analysis that allows us to provide a quantitative second order minimality condition. We show that critical configurations with positive second variation are indeed strict local minimizers of the problem. Moreover, we provide, via a suitable quantitative inequality of isoperimetric type, an estimate of the deviation from minimality for configurations close to the minimum in the L1-topology.

Funding statement: The first author was partially funded by the 2008 ERC Grant no. 226234 “Analytic Techniques for Geometric and Functional Inequalities”. The second author was partially funded by the Marie Curie project IRSES-2009-247486 of the Seventh Framework Programme and is member of the Gruppo Nazionale per l’Analisi Matematica, la Probabilità e le loro Applicazioni (GNAMPA) of the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica (INdAM).

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Received: 2013-8-21
Revised: 2014-9-14
Published Online: 2015-1-27
Published in Print: 2017-8-1

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