Convergence of a non-local eikonal equation to anisotropic mean curvature motion. Application to dislocation dynamics

Abstract

We prove the convergence at a large scale of a non-local first order equation to an anisotropic mean curvature motion. The equation is an eikonal-type equation with a velocity depending in a non-local way on the solution itself, which arises in the theory of dislocation dynamics. We show that if an anisotropic mean curvature motion is approximated by equations of this type then it is always of variational type, whereas the converse is true only in dimension two. © European Mathematical Society 2008.