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In this paper we study semi-discrete and fully discrete evolving surface finite element schemes for the Cahn-Hilliard equation with a logarithmic potential. Specifically we consider linear finite elements discretising space and backward Euler time discretisation. Our analysis relies on a specific geometric assumption on the evolution of the surface. Our main results are $L^2_{H^1}$ error bounds for both the semi-discrete and fully discrete schemes, and we provide some numerical results., Comment: 60 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

We consider the existence of suitable weak solutions to the Cahn-Hilliard equation with a non-constant (degenerate) mobility on a class of evolving surfaces. We also show weak-strong uniqueness for the case of a positive mobility function, and under some further assumptions on the initial data we show uniqueness for a class of strong solutions for a degenerate mobility function., Comment: 30 pages

We consider the surface Stokes equation with Lagrange multiplier and approach it numerically. Using a Taylor-Hood surface finite element method, along with an appropriate estimation for the additional Lagrange multiplier, we establish optimal convergence results for the velocity in $H^1$ and $L^2$, and in $L^2$ for the two pressures. Furthermore, we present a new inf-sup condition to help with the stability and convergence results. This formulation offers the advantage of simplified implementation without approximating geometric quantities, although it requires a higher approximation of the parameterized surface. In addition, we provide numerical simulations that confirm the established error bounds and perform a comparative analysis against the penalty approach., Comment: 42 pages, 10 figures

We focus on the derivation and analysis of a model for multi-component phase separation occurring on biological membranes, inspired by observations of lipid raft formation. The model integrates local membrane composition with local membrane curvature, describing the membrane's geometry through a perturbation method represented as a graph over an undeformed Helfrich minimising surface, such as a sphere. The resulting energy consists of a small deformation functional coupled to a Cahn-Hilliard functional. By applying Onsager's variational principle, we obtain a multi-component Cahn-Hilliard equation for the vector $\boldsymbol\varphi$ of protein concentrations coupled to an evolution equation for the small deformation $u$ along the normal direction to the reference membrane. Then, in the case of a constant mobility matrix, we consider the Cauchy problem and we prove that it is (globally) well posed in a weak setting. We also demonstrate that any weak solution regularises in finite time and satisfies the so-called "strict separation property". This property allows usto show that any weak solution converges to a single stationary state by a suitable version of the Lojasiewicz-Simon inequality.

We derive various novel free boundary problems as limits of a coupled bulk-surface reaction-diffusion system modelling ligand-receptor dynamics on evolving domains. These limiting free boundary problems may be formulated as Stefan-type problems on an evolving hypersurface. Our results are new even in the setting where there is no domain evolution. The models are of particular relevance to a number of applications in cell biology. The analysis utilises $L^\infty$-estimates in the manner of De Giorgi iterations and other technical tools, all in an evolving setting. We also report on numerical simulations.

We study two fully discrete evolving surface finite element schemes for the Cahn-Hilliard equation on an evolving surface, given a smooth potential with polynomial growth. In particular we establish optimal order error bounds for a (fully implicit) backward Euler time-discretisation, and an implicit-explicit time-discretisation, with isoparametric surface finite elements discretising space., Comment: 38 pages, 3 figures

We derive a system of equations which can be seen as an evolving surface version of the diffuse interface "Model H" of Hohenberg and Halperin (1977). We then consider the well-posedness for the corresponding (tangential) system when one prescribes the evolution of the surface. Well-posedness is proved for smooth potentials in the Cahn-Hilliard equation with polynomial growth, and also for a thermodynamically relevant singular potential., Comment: 59 pages. Fixed even more typos, and corrected the long time existence result

Bulk-surface systems on evolving domains are studied. Such problems appear typically from modelling receptor-ligand dynamics in biological cells. Our first main result is the global existence and boundedness of solutions in all dimensions. This is achieved by proving $L^p$-maximal regularity of parabolic equations and duality methods in moving surfaces, which are of independent interest. The second main result is the large time dynamics where we show, under the assumption that the volume/area of the moving domain/surface is unchanged and that the material velocities are decaying for large time, that the solution converges to a unique spatially homogeneous equilibrium. The result is proved by extending the entropy method to bulk-surface systems in evolving domains., Comment: 44 pages. Some typos are corrected. Comments are very welcome

The aim of this paper is to develop a numerical scheme to approximate evolving interface problems for parabolic equations based on the abstract evolving finite element framework proposed in (C M Elliott, T Ranner, IMA J Num Anal, 41:3, 2021, doi:10.1093/imanum/draa062). An appropriate weak formulation of the problem is derived for the use of evolving finite elements designed to accommodate for a moving interface. Optimal order error bounds are proved for arbitrary order evolving isoparametric finite elements. The paper concludes with numerical results for a model problem verifying orders of convergence., Comment: 32 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

We consider the Cahn-Hilliard equation with constant mobility and logarithmic potential on a two-dimensional evolving closed surface embedded in $\mathbb R^3$, as well as a related weighted model. The well-posedness of weak solutions for the corresponding initial value problems on a given time interval $[0,T]$ have already been established by the first two authors. Here we first prove some regularisation properties of weak solutions in finite time. Then, we show the validity of the strict separation property for both the problems. This means that the solutions stay uniformly away from the pure phases $\pm1$ from any positive time on. This property plays an essential role to achieve higher-order regularity for the solutions. Also, it is a rigorous validation of the standard double-well approximation. The present results are a twofold extension of the well-known ones for the classical equation in planar domains.

An evolving surface finite element discretisation is analysed for the evolution of a closed two-dimensional surface governed by a system coupling a generalised forced mean curvature flow and a reaction--diffusion process on the surface, inspired by a gradient flow of a coupled energy. Two algorithms are proposed, both based on a system coupling the diffusion equation to evolution equations for geometric quantities in the velocity law for the surface. One of the numerical methods is proved to be convergent in the $H^1$ norm with optimal-order for finite elements of degree at least two. We present numerical experiments illustrating the convergence behaviour and demonstrating the qualitative properties of the flow: preservation of mean convexity, loss of convexity, weak maximum principles, and the occurrence of self-intersections.

We propose and unify classes of different models for information propagation over graphs. In a first class, propagation is modelled as a wave which emanates from a set of known nodes at an initial time, to all other unknown nodes at later times with an ordering determined by the arrival time of the information wave front. A second class of models is based on the notion of a travel time along paths between nodes. The time of information propagation from an initial known set of nodes to a node is defined as the minimum of a generalised travel time over subsets of all admissible paths. A final class is given by imposing a local equation of an eikonal form at each unknown node, with boundary conditions at the known nodes. The solution value of the local equation at a node is coupled to those of neighbouring nodes with lower values. We provide precise formulations of the model classes and prove equivalences between them. Motivated by the connection between first arrival time model and the eikonal equation in the continuum setting, we derive formal limits for graphs based on uniform grids in Euclidean space under grid refinement. For a specific parameter setting, we demonstrate that the solution on the grid approximates the Euclidean distance, and illustrate the use of front propagation on graphs to trust networks and semi-supervised learning.

We develop a functional framework suitable for the treatment of partial differential equations and variational problems on evolving families of Banach spaces. We propose a definition for the weak time derivative that does not rely on the availability of a Hilbertian structure and explore conditions under which spaces of weakly differentiable functions (with values in an evolving Banach space) relate to classical Sobolev--Bochner spaces. An Aubin--Lions compactness result is proved. We analyse concrete examples of function spaces over time-evolving spatial domains and hypersurfaces for which we explicitly provide the definition of the time derivative and verify isomorphism properties with the aforementioned Sobolev--Bochner spaces. We conclude with the proof of well posedness for a class of nonlinear monotone problems on an abstract evolving space (generalising the evolutionary $p$-Laplace equation on a moving domain or surface) and identify some additional problems that can be formulated with the setting developed in this work.

We describe a functional framework suitable to the analysis of the Cahn-Hilliard equation on an evolving surface whose evolution is assumed to be given \textit{a priori}. The model is derived from balance laws for an order parameter with an associated Cahn-Hilliard energy functional and we establish well-posedness for general regular potentials, satisfying some prescribed growth conditions, and for two singular nonlinearities -- the thermodynamically relevant logarithmic potential and a double obstacle potential. We identify, for the singular potentials, necessary conditions on the initial data and the evolution of the surfaces for global-in-time existence of solutions, which arise from the fact that integrals of solutions are preserved over time, and prove well-posedness for initial data on a suitable set of admissible initial conditions. We then briefly describe an alternative derivation leading to a model that instead preserves a weighted integral of the solution, and explain how our arguments can be adapted in order to obtain global-in-time existence without restrictions on the initial conditions. Some illustrative examples and further research directions are given in the final sections.

We consider sharp interface asymptotics for a phase field model of two phase near spherical biomembranes involving a coupling between the local mean curvature and the local composition proposed by the first and second authors. The model is motivated by lipid raft formation. We introduce a reduced diffuse interface energy depending only on the membrane composition and derive the $\Gamma-$limit. We demonstrate that the Euler-Lagrange equations for the limiting functional and the sharp interface energy coincide. Finally, we consider a system of gradient flow equations with conserved Allen-Cahn dynamics for the phase field model. Performing a formal asymptotic analysis we obtain a system of gradient flow equations for the sharp interface energy coupling geodesic curvature flow for the phase interface to a fourth order PDE free boundary problem for the surface deformation.

We consider a model of a biomembrane with attached proteins. The membrane is represented by a near spherical continuous surface and attached proteins are described as discrete rigid structures which attach to the membrane at a finite number of points. The resulting surface minimises a quadratic elastic energy (obtained by a perturbation of the Canham-Helfrich energy) subject to the point constraints which are imposed by the attachment of the proteins. We calculate the derivative of the energy with respect to protein configurations. The proteins are constrained to move tangentially by translation and by rotation in the axis normal to a reference point. Previous studies have typically restricted themselves to a nearly flat membrane and circular inclusions. A numerically accessible representation of this derivative is derived and employed in some numerical experiments.

We derive and analyse an energy to model lipid raft formation on biological membranes involving a coupling between the local mean curvature and the local composition. We apply a perturbation method recently introduced by Fritz, Hobbs and the first author to describe the geometry of the surface as a graph over an undeformed Helfrich energy minimising surface. The result is a surface Cahn-Hilliard functional coupled with a small deformation energy We show that suitable minimisers of this energy exist and consider a gradient flow with conserved Allen-Cahn dynamics, for which existence and uniqueness results are proven. Finally, numerical simulations show that for the long time behaviour raft-like structures can emerge and stablise, and their parameter dependence is further explored., Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures

We formulate a well-posedness and approximation theory for a class of generalised saddle point problems with a specific form of constraints. In this way we develop an approach to a class of fourth order elliptic partial differential equations with point constraints using the idea of splitting into coupled second order equations. An approach is formulated using a penalty method to impose the constraints. Our main motivation is to treat certain fourth order equations involving the biharmonic operator and point Dirichlet constraints for example arising in the modelling of biomembranes on curved and flat surfaces but the approach may be applied more generally. The theory for well-posedness and approximation is presented in an abstract setting. Several examples are described together with some numerical experiments.

In this contribution to the proceedings of the 11th Mathematical Society of Japan (MSJ) Seasonal Institute (July 2018) we give an overview of some recent work on a mathematical model for small deformations of a spherical membrane. The idea is to consider perturbations to minimisers of a surface geometric energy. The model is obtained from consideration of second order approximations to a perturbed energy. In particular, the considered problems involve particle constraints and surface phase field energies., Comment: Submission to the proceedings of the 11th Mathematical Society of Japan (MSJ) Seasonal Institute (July 2018)

In this article, we analyse the domain mapping method approach to approximate statistical moments of solutions to linear elliptic partial differential equations posed over random geometries including smooth surfaces and bulk-surface systems. In particular, we present the necessary geometric analysis required by the domain mapping method to reformulate elliptic equations on random surfaces onto a fix deterministic surface using a prescribed stochastic parametrisation of the random domain. An abstract analysis of a finite element discretisation coupled with a Monte-Carlo sampling is presented for the resulting elliptic equations with random coefficients posed over the fixed curved reference domain and optimal error estimates are derived. The results from the abstract framework are applied to a model elliptic problem on a random surface and a coupled elliptic bulk-surface system and the theoretical convergence rates are confirmed by numerical experiments.