Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Feldman, William M, Huang, Zhonggan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.17298
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Table of Contents:
  • We homogenize the Laplace and heat equations with the Neumann data oscillating in the ``vertical" $u$-variable. These are simplified models for interface motion in heterogeneous media, particularly capillary contact lines. The homogenization limit reveals a pinning effect at zero tangential slope, leading to a novel singularly anisotropic pinned Neumann condition. The singular pinning creates an unconstrained contact set, generalizing the contact set in the classical thin obstacle problem. We establish a comparison principle for the heat equation with this new type of boundary condition. The comparison principle enables a proof of homogenization via the method of half-relaxed limits from viscosity solution theory. Our work also demonstrates, for the first time in a PDE problem in multiple dimensions, the emergence of rate-independent pinning from gradient flows with wiggly energies. Prior limit theorems of this type, in rate-independent contexts, were limited to ODEs and PDEs in one dimension.