Motion by anisotropic mean curvature as sharp interface limit of an inhomogeneous and anisotropic Allen–Cahn equation

We consider the spatially inhomogeneous and anisotropic reaction–diffusion equation ut = m(x)−1 div[m(x)ap(x,∇u)] + ε−2f(u), involving a small parameter ε > 0 and a bistable nonlinear term whose stable equilibria are 0 and 1. We use a Finsler metric related to the anisotropic diffusion term and work in relative geometry. We prove a weak comparison principle and perform an analysis of both the generation and the motion of interfaces. More precisely, we show that, within the time-scale of order ε2|ln ε|, the unique weak solution uε develops a steep transition layer that separates the regions {uε ≈ 0} and {uε | 1}. Then, on a much slower time-scale, the layer starts to propagate. Consequently, as ε → 0, the solution uε converges almost everywhere (a.e.) to 0 in Ω−t and 1 in Ω+t , where Ω−t and Ω+t are sub-domains of Ω separated by an interface Гt, whose motion is driven by its anisotropic mean curvature. We also prove that the thickness of the transition layer is of order ε.