Multiplicity of solutions to the multiphasic Allen-Cahn-Hilliard system with a small volume constraint on closed parallelizable manifolds

Abstract

We prove the existence of multiple solutions to the Allen--Cahn--Hilliard (ACH) vectorial equation (with two equations) involving a triple-well (triphasic) potential with a small volume constraint on a closed parallelizable Riemannian manifold. More precisely, we find a lower bound for the number of solutions depending on some topological invariants of the underlying manifold. The phase transition potential is considered to have a finite set of global minima, where it also vanishes, and a subcritical growth at infinity. Our strategy is to employ the Lusternik--Schnirelmann and infinite-dimensional Morse theories for the vectorial energy functional. To this end, we exploit that the associated ACH energy $\Gamma$-converges to the weighted multi-perimeter for clusters, which combined with some deep theorems from isoperimetric theory yields the suitable setup to apply the photography method. Along the way, the lack of a closed analytic expression for the multi-isoperimetric function for clusters imposes a delicate issue. Furthermore, using a transversality theorem, we also show the genericity of the set of metrics for which solutions to the ACH system are nondegenerate.