This group existed from 2013 to 2016. It was led by Elisabetta Rocca.
The main research goal was to establish new methods with a novel mathematical formulation of physical problems. The researchers aimed to obtain relevant mathematical results in order to gain further insight into new models for phase transitions and the corresponding evolution PDE systems. The new approach was particularly helpful within the investigation of issues like existence, uniqueness, control, and long-term behavior of the solutions for such evolutionary PDEs.
Moreover, the importance of the opportunity to apply such a new theory to phase transitions lies in the fact that such phenomena arise in a variety of applied problems. These include melting and freezing in solid-liquid mixtures, phase changes in solids, crystal growth, soil freezing, damage in elastic materials, plasticity, food conservation, collisions, etc.. With its application, the possibility to describe these phenomena in a quantitative way has deeply influenced the technological development of our society and thus stimulating the mathematical interest further.
