Semigroup-theoretic approach to diffusion in thin layers separated by semi-permeable membranes

Abstract

AbstractUsing techniques of the theory of semigroups of linear operators, we study the question of approximating solutions to equations governing diffusion in thin layers separated by a semi-permeable membrane. We show that as thickness of the layers converges to 0, the solutions, which by nature are functions of 3 variables, gradually lose dependence on the vertical variable and thus may be regarded as functions of 2 variables. The limit equation describes diffusion on the lower and upper sides of a two-dimensional surface (the membrane) with jumps from one side to the other. The latter possibility is expressed as an additional term in the generator of the limit semigroup, and this term is built from permeability coefficients of the membrane featuring in the transmission conditions of the approximating equations (i.e., in the description of the domains of the generators of the approximating semigroups). We prove this convergence result in the spaces of square integrable and continuous functions, and study the way the choice of transmission conditions influences the limit.