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Paolo Buttà

Publications and source records attributed to Paolo Buttà.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2017

Stochastic Allen-Cahn equation with mobility

We introduce a class of stochastic Allen-Cahn equations with a mobility coefficient and colored noise. For initial data with finite free energy, we analyze the corresponding Cauchy problem on the $d$-dimensional torus in the time interval $[0,T]$. Assuming that $d\le 3$ and that the potential has quartic growth, we prove existence and uniqueness of the solution as a process $u$ in $L^2$ with continuous paths, satisfying almost surely the regularity properties $u\in C([0,T]; H^1)$ and $u\in L^2([0,T];H^2)$.

math.AP↗
arXiv2017

Stochastic Allen-Cahn approximation of the mean curvature flow: large deviations upper bound

Consider the Allen-Cahn equation on the $d$-dimensional torus, $d=2,3$, in the sharp interface limit. As it is well known, the limiting dynamics is described by the motion by mean curvature of the interface between the two stable phases. Here, we analyze a stochastic perturbation of the Allen-Cahn equation and describe its large deviation asymptotics in a joint sharp interface and small noise limit. Relying on previous results on the variational convergence of the action functional, we prove the large deviation upper bound. The corresponding rate function is finite only when there exists a time evolving interface of codimension one between the two stable phases. The zero level set of this rate function is given by the evolution by mean curvature in the sense of Brakke. Finally, the rate function can be written in terms of the sum of two non-negative quantities: the first measures how much the velocity of the interface deviates from its mean curvature, while the second is due to the possible occurrence of nucleation events.

math.PR↗
arXiv2016

Dynamics of infinite classical anharmonic crystals

We consider an unbounded lattice and at each point of this lattice an anharmonic oscillator, that interacts with its first neighborhoods via a pair potential $V$ and is subjected to a restoring force of potential $U$. We assume that $U$ and $V$ are even nonnegative polynomials of degree $2σ_1$ and $2σ_2$. We study the time evolution of this system, with a control of the growth in time of the local energy, and we give a nontrivial bound on the velocity of propagation of a perturbation. This is an extension to the case $σ_1 < 2σ_2-1$ of some already known results obtained for $σ_1 \geq 2σ_2-1$.

math-ph↗
arXiv2014

Differential equations for real-structured (and unstructured) defectivity measures

Let $A$ be either a complex or real matrix with all distinct eigenvalues. We propose a new method for the computation of both the unstructured and the real-structured (if the matrix is real) distance $w_{\mathbb K}(A)$ (where ${\mathbb K}=\mathbb C$ if general complex matrices are considered and ${\mathbb K} ={\mathbb R}$ if only real matrices are allowed) of the matrix $A$ from the set of defective matrices, that is the set of those matrices with at least a multiple eigenvalue with algebraic multiplicity larger than its geometric multiplicity. For $0 < \varepsilon \le w_{\mathbb K}(A)$, this problem is closely related to the computation of the most ill-conditioned $\varepsilon$-pseudoeigenvalues of $A$, that is points in the $\varepsilon$-pseudospectrum of $A$ characterized by the highest condition number. The method we propose couples a system of differential equations on a low rank (possibly structured) manifold which computes the $\varepsilon$-pseudoeigenvalue of $A$ which is closest to coalesce, with a fast Newton-like iteration aiming to determine the minimal value $\varepsilon$ such that such an $\varepsilon$-pseudoeigenvalue becomes defective. The method has a local behaviour; this means that in general we find upper bounds for $w_{\mathbb K}(A)$. However, they usually provide good approximations, in those (simple) cases where we can check this. The methodology can be extended to a structured matrix where it is required that the distance is computed within some manifold defining the structure of the matrix. In this paper we extensively examine the case of real matrices but we also consider pattern structures. As far as we know there do not exist methods in the literature able to compute such distance.

math.NA↗
arXiv2012

Froth-like minimizers of a non local free energy functional with competing interactions

We investigate the ground and low energy states of a one dimensional non local free energy functional describing at a mean field level a spin system with both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. In particular, the antiferromagnetic interaction is assumed to have a range much larger than the ferromagnetic one. The competition between these two effects is expected to lead to the spontaneous emergence of a regular alternation of long intervals on which the spin profile is magnetized either up or down, with an oscillation scale intermediate between the range of the ferromagnetic and that of the antiferromagnetic interaction. In this sense, the optimal or quasi-optimal profiles are "froth-like": if seen on the scale of the antiferromagnetic potential they look neutral, but if seen at the microscope they actually consist of big bubbles of two different phases alternating among each other. In this paper we prove the validity of this picture, we compute the oscillation scale of the quasi-optimal profiles and we quantify their distance in norm from a reference periodic profile. The proof consists of two main steps: we first coarse grain the system on a scale intermediate between the range of the ferromagnetic potential and the expected optimal oscillation scale; in this way we reduce the original functional to an effective "sharp interface" one. Next, we study the latter by reflection positivity methods, which require as a key ingredient the exact locality of the short range term. Our proof has the conceptual interest of combining coarse graining with reflection positivity methods, an idea that is presumably useful in much more general contexts than the one studied here.

math-ph↗
arXiv2012

Structured conditioning of Hamiltonian eigenvalue problems

We discuss the effect of structure-preserving perturbations on complex or real Hamiltonian eigenproblems and characterize the structured worst-case effect perturbations. We derive significant expressions for both the structured condition numbers and the worst-case effect Hamiltonian perturbations. It is shown that, for purely imaginary eigenvalues, the usual unstructured perturbation analysis is sufficient.

math.NA↗
arXiv2012

Computing the structured pseudospectrum of a Toeplitz matrix and its extreme points

The computation of the structured pseudospectral abscissa and radius (with respect to the Frobenius norm) of a Toeplitz matrix is discussed and two algorithms based on a low rank property to construct extremal perturbations are presented. The algorithms are inspired by those considered in [SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl., 32 (2011), pp. 1166-1192] for the unstructured case, but their extension to structured pseudospectra and analysis presents several difficulties. Natural generalizations of the algorithms, allowing to draw significant sections of the structured pseudospectra in proximity of extremal points are also discussed. Since no algorithms are available in the literature to draw such structured pseudospectra, the approach we present seems promising to extend existing software tools (Eigtool, Seigtool) to structured pseudospectra representation for Toeplitz matrices. We discuss local convergence properties of the algorithms and show some applications to a few illustrative examples.

math.NA↗
arXiv2010

Navier-Stokes equations on the flat cylinder with vorticity production on the boundary

We study the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes system on a flat cylinder with the usual Dirichlet boundary conditions for the velocity field u. We formulate the problem as an infinite system of ODE's for the natural Fourier components of the vorticity, and the boundary conditions are taken into account by adding a vorticity production at the boundary. We prove equivalence to the original Navier-Stokes system and show that the decay of the Fourier modes is exponential for any positive time in the periodic direction, but it is only power-like in the other direction.

math-ph↗
arXiv2009

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Vascular Network Formation

Endothelial cells are responsible for the formation of the capillary blood vessel network. We describe a system of endothelial cells by means of two-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations of point-like particles. Cells' motion is governed by the gradient of the concentration of a chemical substance that they produce (chemotaxis). The typical time of degradation of the chemical substance introduces a characteristic length in the system. We show that point-like model cells form network resembling structures tuned by this characteristic length, before collapsing altogether. Successively, we improve the non-realistic point-like model cells by introducing an isotropic strong repulsive force between them and a velocity dependent force mimicking the observed peculiarity of endothelial cells to preserve the direction of their motion (persistence). This more realistic model does not show a clear network formation. We ascribe this partial fault in reproducing the experiments to the static geometry of our model cells that, in reality, change their shapes by elongating toward neighboring cells.

cond-mat.soft↗