Quasisteady patterns in interfaces: Folding and Faceting

Abstract

We present a systematic derivation of the gradient flows associated to a broad class of interfacial energies, emphasizing the relation between intrinsic and extrinsic variations of the interface. We show that the intrinsic variables formulation brings the gradient flow into alignment with the traditional analysis of quasi-steady dynamical systems defined on a stationary domain. Gradient flows are derived for model systems which exhibit quasi-steady pattern formation including coarsening among faceted interfaces and nonlocal interactions that model membrane self-adhesion and self-avoidance.