Second order estimates for a free boundary phase transition

Abstract: It is well known that minimizers of the Allen-Cahn-type functional [ J_\epsilon(u):=\int_\Omega\frac{\epsilon|\nabla u|^2}{2}+\frac{W(u)}{\epsilon}, ] where $W$ is a double-well potential, resemble minimal surfaces in the sense that their level sets converge to a minimal surface as $\epsilon\rightarrow 0$. In this work, we consider the indicator potential $W(t)=\chi_{(-1,1)}(t)$, which leads to the Bernoulli-type free-boundary problem [ \begin{cases} \Delta u=0&\quad\textrm{ in }{|u|<1} |\nabla u|=\epsilon^{-1}&\textrm{ on }\partial {|u|<1}. \end{cases} ] We provide a short proof that the transition layers are uniformly $C^{2,\alpha}$ regular, up to the free boundary. In addition to the uniform $C^{2,\alpha}$ estimate, we also obtain improved interior $C^\alpha$ mean curvature bound that decays in algebraic rate of $\epsilon$. We develop a framework to interpret the family of level surfaces as a geometric flow, where the notion of the time coincides with the level. This results in an simple elliptic equation for the surface velocity $\sigma=1/|\nabla u|$, from which uniform estimates readily follow.