Nonequilibrium Interface Dynamics:
Theory and Simulation from Atomistic to Continuum Scales

CSIC Building (#406), Seminar Room 4122.
Directions: home.cscamm.umd.edu/directions

Sharp and Diffuse Models of Interface Dynamics

Dr. Robert Pego

Department of Mathematics, University of Maryland

Abstract:   In a two-phase system, diffusion and adherence can drive the migration of material interfaces, by flux deposition, by diffusion along the interface, or by Brownian motion. Classically the dynamics of interfaces is described by evolving surfaces, but on a finer scale interfaces can be modeled as diffuse zones of rapid transition of an order parameter. In this talk I'll focus on models of vicinal surfaces of crystals, where the step edges of atomically flat terraces can evolve by such mechanisms. I'll describe the classic BCF (Burton-Cabrera-Frank) sharp-interface model of step migration and recent work of Otto et al that recovers the BCF model from a viscous Cahn-Hilliard equation with degenerate mobility.

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