A parabolic free transmission problem: flat free boundaries are smooth

Abstract

We study a two-phase parabolic free boundary problem motivated by the jump of conductivity in composite materials that undergo a phase transition. Each phase is governed by a heat equation with distinct thermal conductivity, and a transmission-type condition is imposed on the free interface. We establish strong regularity properties of the free boundary: first, we prove that flat free boundaries are $C^{1,\alpha}$ by means of a linearization technique and compactness arguments. Then we use the Hodograph transform to achieve higher regularity. To this end, we prove a new Harnack-type inequality and develop the Schauder theory for parabolic linear transmission problems.