arXiv subjects

Pierluigi Colli

Publications and source records attributed to Pierluigi Colli.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Permeability parameter asymptotics in a Cahn--Hilliard system with third type transmission conditions

In this paper, we study a system in which the Cahn--Hilliard system is imposed in the bulk domain and an Allen--Cahn type equation is prescribed on the boundary, connected through a third type transmission condition characterized by a permeability parameter. This setting is closely related to the theory of transmission problems, and the third type transmission condition can be viewed as a remnant of a thin-boundary description, with the permeability parameter controlling the degree of coupling between the bulk and the boundary. The main objective is to perform a rigorous asymptotic analysis with respect to the permeability parameter. We investigate two limits: the parameter tending to zero, corresponding to a completely impermeable boundary, and the parameter tending to infinity, corresponding to a perfectly permeable boundary where the bulk and boundary phases are fully coupled. For each limiting regime, we establish the convergence of solutions to the respective limit problems and characterize the resulting equations.

math.AP↗

arXiv2026

Optimal control for a fourth-order nonisothermal tumor growth model of Caginalp type

We study a distributed optimal control problem for a nonisothermal Caginalp-type phase-field model that describes tumour growth under thermal therapy. The PDE system couples a possibly viscous Cahn-Hilliard equation, governing the evolution of the healthy and tumor phases, with an equation for the heat balance, and a reaction-diffusion equation for the nutrient concentration. Chemotaxis and active transport effects are taken into account, and hyperthermia appears as a control variable. We introduce a suitable tracking-type cost functional and show the existence of optimal controls. Then, we analyse the differentiability of the control-to-state operator and establish necessary first-order conditions expressed through a variational inequality involving the adjoint state variables.

math.OC↗

arXiv2026

Optimal control of a tumor growth model with hyperbolic relaxation of the chemical potential

In this paper, we study the optimal control of a phase field model for a tumor growth model of Cahn--Hilliard type in which the often assumed parabolic relaxation of the chemical potential is replaced by a hyperbolic one. Both the cases when the double-well potential governing the phase evolution is of either regular or logarithmic type are covered by the analysis. We show the Fr\'echet differentiability of the associated control-to-state operator in suitable Banach spaces and establish first-order necessary optimality conditions in terms of a variational inequality involving the adjoint state variables. The necessary optimality conditions are then used to derive sparsity results for the optimal controls.

math.OC↗

arXiv2026

Optimal velocity control of a Brinkman-Cahn-Hilliard system with curvature effects

We address an optimal control problem governed by a system coupling a Brinkman-type momentum equation for the velocity field with a sixth-order Cahn-Hilliard equation for the phase variable, incorporating curvature effects in the free energy. The control acts as a distributed velocity control, allowing for the manipulation of the flow field and, consequently, the phase separation dynamics. We establish the existence of optimal controls, prove the Fr\'echet differentiability of the control-to-state operator, and derive first-order necessary optimality conditions in terms of a variational inequality involving the adjoint state variables. We also discuss the aspect of sparsity. Beyond its analytical novelty, this work provides a rigorous control framework for Brinkman-Cahn-Hilliard systems incorporating a curvature regularization, offering a foundation for applications in microfluidic design and controlled pattern formation.

math.OC↗

arXiv2025

On the hyperbolic relaxation of the chemical potential in a phase field tumor growth model

In this paper, we study a phase field model for a tumor growth model of Cahn--Hilliard type in which the often assumed parabolic relaxation of the chemical potential is replaced by a hyperbolic one. We show that the resulting initial-boundary value problem is well posed and that its solutions depend continuously on two given functions: one appearing in the mass balance equation and one in the nutrient equation, representing, respectively, sources of drugs (e.g. chemotherapy) and antiangiogenic therapy. We also discuss regularity properties of the solutions. Moreover, in the case of a constant proliferation function, we rigorously analyze the asymptotic behavior as the coefficient of the inertial term tends to zero, establishing convergence to the corresponding viscous Cahn--Hilliard tumor growth model. Our results apply to a broad class of double-well potentials, including nonsmooth ones.

math.AP↗

arXiv2025

On Brinkman flows with curvature-induced phase separation in binary mixtures

The mathematical analysis of diffuse-interface models for multiphase flows has attracted significant attention due to their ability to capture complex interfacial dynamics, including curvature effects, within a unified, energetically consistent framework. In this work, we study a novel Brinkman-Cahn-Hilliard system, coupling a sixth-order phase-field evolution with a Brinkman-type momentum equation featuring variable shear viscosity. The Cahn-Hilliard equation includes a nonconservative source term accounting for mass exchange, and the velocity equation contains a non divergence-free forcing term. We establish the existence of weak solutions in a divergence-free variational framework, and, in the case of constant mobility and shear viscosity, prove uniqueness and continuous dependence on the forcing. Additionally, we analyze the Darcy limit, providing existence results for the corresponding reduced system.

math.AP↗

arXiv2025

Well-posedness for a fourth-order nonisothermal tumor growth model of Caginalp type

We introduce a nonisothermal phase-field system of Caginalp type that describes tumor growth under hyperthermia. The model couples a possibly viscous Cahn-Hilliard equation, governing the evolution of the healthy and tumor phases, with an equation for the heat balance, and a reaction-diffusion equation for the nutrient concentration. The resulting nonlinear system incorporates chemotaxis and active transport effects, and is supplemented with no-flux boundary conditions. The analysis is carried out through a two-step approximation procedure, involving a regularization of the potential and a Faedo-Galerkin discretization scheme. Under stronger regularity assumptions, we further establish the existence of strong solutions and their uniqueness via a continuous dependence result.

math.AP↗

arXiv2025

Asymptotic analysis of the Allen-Cahn equation with dynamic boundary conditions of Cahn-Hilliard type

Problems for partial differential equations coupled with dynamic boundary conditions can be viewed as a type of transmission problem between the bulk and its boundary. For the heat equation and the Allen-Cahn equation, various forms of such problems with dynamic boundary conditions are studied in this paper. In the case of the Cahn-Hilliard equation in the bulk, several models have been proposed in which the boundary equations and conditions differ. Recently, the vanishing surface diffusion limit has been investigated in more than one of these models. In such settings, the resulting dynamic boundary equation typically takes the form of a forward-backward parabolic equation. In this paper, we focus on a different model, in which the Allen-Cahn equation governs the bulk dynamics, while the boundary condition is of Cahn-Hilliard type. We analyze the asymptotic behavior of the system, including the well-posedness of the limiting problems and corresponding error estimates for the differences between solutions. These aspects are discussed for three types of limiting systems.

math.AP↗

arXiv2025

Hyperbolic relaxation of a sixth-order Cahn-Hilliard equation

This work explores the solvability of a sixth-order Cahn--Hilliard equation with an inertial term, which serves as a relaxation of a higher-order variant of the classical Cahn--Hilliard equation. The equation includes a source term that disrupts the conservation of the mean value of the order parameter. The incorporation of additional spatial derivatives allows the model to account for curvature effects, leading to a more precise representation of isothermal phase separation dynamics. We establish the existence of a weak solution for the associated initial and boundary value problem under the assumption that the double-well-type nonlinearity is globally defined. Additionally, we derive uniform stability estimates, which enable us to demonstrate that any family of solutions satisfying these estimates converges in a suitable topology to the unique solution of the limiting problem as the relaxation parameter approaches zero. Furthermore, we provide an error estimate for specific norms of the difference between solutions in terms of the relaxation parameter.

math.AP↗

arXiv2025

On the optimal control of viscous Cahn-Hilliard systems with hyperbolic relaxation of the chemical potential

In this paper, we study an optimal control problem for a viscous Cahn--Hilliard system with zero Neumann boundary conditions in which a hyperbolic relaxation term involving the second time derivative of the chemical potential has been added to the first equation of the system. For the initial-boundary value problem of this system, results concerning well-posedness, continuous dependence and regularity are known. We show Fr\'echet differentiability of the associated control-to-state operator, study the associated adjoint state system, and derive first-order necessary optimality conditions. Concerning the nonlinearities driving the system, we can include the case of logarithmic potentials. In addition, we perform an asymptotic analysis of the optimal control problem as the relaxation coefficient approaches zero.

math.OC↗

arXiv2025

Analysis of a nonisothermal and conserved phase field system with inertial term

This paper deals with a conserved phase field system that couples the energy balance equation with a Cahn--Hilliard type system including temperature and the inertial term for the order parameter. In the case without inertial term, the system under study was introduced by Caginalp. The inertial term is motivated by the occurrence of rapid phase transformation processes in nonequilibrium dynamics. A double-well potential is well chosen and the related nonlinearity governing the evolution is assumed to satisfy a suitable growth condition. The viscous variant of the Cahn--Hilliard system is also considered along with the inertial term. The existence of a global solution is proved via the analysis of some approximate problems with Yosida regularizations, and the use of the Cauchy--Lipschitz--Picard theorem in an abstract setting. Moreover, we study the convergence of the system, with or without the viscous term, as the inertial coefficient tends to zero.

math.AP↗

arXiv2025

On a Brain Tumor Growth Model with Lactate Metabolism, Viscoelastic Effects, and Tissue Damage

In this paper, we study a nonlinearly coupled initial-boundary value problem describing the evolution of brain tumor growth including lactate metabolism. In our modeling approach, we also take into account the viscoelastic properties of the tissues as well as the reversible damage effects that could occur, possibly caused by surgery. After introducing the PDE system, coupling a Fischer-Kolmogorov type equation for the tumor phase with a reaction-diffusion equation for the lactate, a quasi-static momentum balance with nonlinear elasticity and viscosity matrices, and a nonlinear differential inclusion for the damage, we prove the existence of global in time weak solutions under reasonable assumptions on the involved functions and data. Strengthening these assumptions, we subsequently prove further regularity properties of the solutions as well as their continuous dependence with respect to the data, entailing the well-posedness of the Cauchy problem associated with the nonlinear PDE system.

math.AP↗

arXiv2024

Hyperbolic relaxation of the chemical potential in the viscous Cahn-Hilliard equation

In this paper, we study a hyperbolic relaxation of the viscous Cahn--Hilliard system with zero Neumann boundary conditions. In fact, we consider a relaxation term involving the second time derivative of the chemical potential in the first equation of the system. We develop a well-posedness, continuous dependence and regularity theory for the initial-boundary value problem. Moreover, we investigate the asymptotic behavior of the system as the relaxation parameter tends to 0 and prove the convergence to the viscous Cahn--Hilliard system.

math.AP↗

arXiv2024

Solvability and optimal control of a multi-species Cahn-Hilliard-Keller-Segel tumor growth model

This paper investigates an optimal control problem associated with a two-dimensional multi-species Cahn-Hilliard-Keller-Segel tumor growth model, which incorporates complex biological processes such as species diffusion, chemotaxis, angiogenesis, and nutrient consumption, resulting in a highly nonlinear system of nonlinear partial differential equations. The modeling derivation and corresponding analysis have been addressed in a previous contribution. Building on this foundation, the scope of this study involves investigating a distributed control problem with the goal of optimizing a tracking-type cost functional. This latter aims to minimize the deviation of tumor cell location from desired target configurations while penalizing the costs associated with implementing control measures, akin to introducing a suitable medication. Under appropriate mathematical assumptions, we demonstrate that sufficiently regular solutions exhibit continuous dependence on the control variable. Furthermore, we establish the existence of optimal controls and characterize the first-order necessary optimality conditions through a suitable variational inequality.

math.AP↗

arXiv2024

Second-order optimality conditions for the sparse optimal control of nonviscous Cahn-Hilliard systems

In this paper we study the optimal control of an initial-boundary value problem for the classical nonviscous Cahn-Hilliard system with zero Neumann boundary conditions. Phase field systems of this type govern the evolution of diffusive phase transition processes with conserved order parameter. For such systems, optimal control problems have been studied in the past. We focus here on the situation when the cost functional of the optimal control problem contains a sparsity-enhancing nondifferentiable term like the L1-norm. For such cases, we establish first-order necessary and second-order sufficient optimality conditions for locally optimal controls, where in the approach to second-order sufficient conditions we employ a technique introduced by E. Casas, C. Ryll and F. Tr\"oltzsch in the paper [SIAM J. Control Optim. 53 (2015), 2168-2202]. The main novelty of this paper is that this method, which has recently been successfully applied to systems of viscous Cahn-Hilliard type, can be adapted also to the classical nonviscous case. Since in the case without viscosity the solutions to the state and adjoint systems turn out to be considerably less regular than in the viscous case, numerous additional technical difficulties have to be overcome, and additional conditions have to be imposed. In particular, we have to restrict ourselves to the case when the nonlinearity driving the phase separation is regular, while in the presence of a viscosity term also nonlinearities of logarithmic type turn could be admitted. In addition, the implicit function theorem, which was employed to establish the needed differentiability properties of the control-to-state operator in the viscous case, does not apply in our situation and has to be substituted by other arguments.

math.OC↗

arXiv2024

Chemotaxis-inspired PDE model for airborne infectious disease transmission: analysis and simulations

Partial differential equation (PDE) models for infectious disease have received renewed interest in recent years. Most models of this type extend classical compartmental formulations with additional terms accounting for spatial dynamics, with Fickian diffusion being the most common such term. However, while diffusion may be appropriate for modeling vector-borne diseases, or diseases among plants or wildlife, the spatial propagation of airborne diseases in human populations is heavily dependent on human contact and mobility patterns, which are not necessarily well-described by diffusion. By including an additional chemotaxis-inspired term, in which the infection is propagated along the positive gradient of the susceptible population (from regions of low- to high-density of susceptibles), one may provide a more suitable description of these dynamics. This article introduces and analyzes a mathematical model of infectious disease incorporating a modified chemotaxis-type term. The model is analyzed mathematically and the well-posedness of the resulting PDE system is demonstrated. A series of numerical simulations are provided, demonstrating the ability of the model to naturally capture important phenomena not easily observed in standard diffusion models, including propagation over long spatial distances over short time scales and the emergence of localized infection hotspots

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2024

Optimality conditions for sparse optimal control of viscous Cahn-Hilliard systems with logarithmic potential

In this paper we study the optimal control of a parabolic initial-boundary value problem of viscous Cahn-Hilliard type with zero Neumann boundary conditions. Phase field systems of this type govern the evolution of diffusive phase transition processes with conserved order parameter. It is assumed that the nonlinear functions driving the physical processes within the spatial domain are double-well potentials of logarithmic type whose derivatives become singular at the boundary of their respective domains of definition. For such systems, optimal control problems have been studied in the past. We focus here on the situation when the cost functional of the optimal control problem contains a nondifferentiable term like the L1-norm, which leads to sparsity of optimal controls. For such cases, we establish first-order necessary and second-order sufficient optimality conditions for locally optimal controls. In the approach to second-order sufficient conditions, the main novelty of this paper, we adapt a technique introduced by E. Casas, C. Ryll and F. Tr\"oltzsch in the paper [SIAM J. Control Optim. 53 (2015), 2168-2202]. In this paper, we show that this method can also be successfully applied to systems of viscous Cahn-Hilliard type with logarithmic nonlinearity. Since the Cahn-Hilliard system corresponds to a fourth-order partial differential equation in contrast to the second-order systems investigated before, additional technical difficulties have to be overcome.

math.OC↗

arXiv2024

Nonlocal to local convergence of phase field systems with inertial term

This paper deals with a nonlocal model for a hyperbolic phase field system coupling the standard energy balance equation for temperature with a dynamic for the phase variable: the latter includes an inertial term and a nonlocal convolution-type operator where the family of kernels depends on a small parameter. We rigorously study the asymptotic convergence of the system as the approximating parameter tends to zero and we obtain at the limit the local system with the elliptic laplacian operator acting on the phase variable. Our analysis is based on some asymptotic properties on nonlocal-to-local convergence that have been recently and successfully applied to families of Cahn--Hilliard models.

math.AP↗