Gradient Flows of Interfacial Energies: Curvature Agents and Incompressibility

Abstract

We present a framework for the gradient flow of sharp-interface surface energies that couple to embedded curvature active agents. We use a penalty method to develop families of locally incompressible gradient flows that couple interface stretching or compression to local flux of interfacial mass. We establish the convergence of the penalty method to an incompressible flow both formally for a broad family of surface energies and rigorously for a more narrow class of surface energies. We present an analysis, including a $\Gamma$-limit, of an Allen-Cahn type model for a coupled surface agent curvature energy.