A rigorous derivation of mean-field models for diblock copolymer melts (Q607788)

This paper is an excellent example where formal asymptotic intuition inspires in an essential manner the rigorous analysis. The authors study a free-boundary problem describing the micro-phase separation of diblock copolymer melts considered in a special scaling regime. Using the intimate gradient-flow structure of the problem, the mean-field equations are rigorously derived at least for small times. On this way, the authors provide a sound theoretical basis for some of the formal mean-field calculations.