Convergence to equilibrium of weak solutions to the Cahn--Hilliard equation with non-degenerate mobility and singular potential

Abstract

We consider the classical initial and boundary value problem for the Cahn--Hilliard equation with non-degenerate mobility and singular (e.g., logarithmic) potential. We prove that any weak solution converges to a single equilibrium using only minimal assumptions, that is, the existence of a global weak solution which satisfies an energy inequality. This result appears to be new in the literature and also holds in the three-dimensional case, which was an open problem due to the lack of regularity results, especially when the mobility is just a continuous function. We then prove the same result for a Cahn--Hilliard-Navier--Stokes type system with unmatched densities and viscosities proposed by Abels, Garcke, and Gr\"un (Math. Models Methods Appl. Sci. 22, 2012), always assuming a non-degenerate mobility. We expect that this novel method can be used to analyze the same issue for other models where the regularization properties of the solutions are unknown or unlikely.