Title: Computer-assisted proof of heteroclinic connections in the one-dimensional Ohta-Kawasaki model,
Abstract: We present a computer-assisted proof of heteroclinic connections in the
one-dimensional Ohta-Kawasaki model of diblock copolymers. The model is a
fourth-order parabolic partial differential equation subject to homogeneous
Neumann boundary conditions, which contains as a special case the celebrated
Cahn-Hilliard equation. While the attractor structure of the latter model is
completely understood for one-dimensional domains, the diblock copolymer
extension exhibits considerably richer long-term dynamical behavior, which
includes a high level of multistability. In this paper, we establish the
existence of certain heteroclinic connections between the homogeneous
equilibrium state, which represents a perfect copolymer mixture, and all local
and global energy minimizers. In this way, we show that not every solution
originating near the homogeneous state will converge to the global energy
minimizer, but rather is trapped by a stable state with higher energy. This
phenomenon can not be observed in the one-dimensional Cahn-Hillard equation,
where generic solutions are attracted by a global minimizer.