Curvature-driven front propagation through planar lattices in oblique directions

Abstract

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>In this paper we investigate the long-term behaviour of solutions to the discrete Allen-Cahn equation posed on a two-dimensional lattice. We show that front-like initial conditions evolve towards a planar travelling wave modulated by a phaseshift <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}$ \gamma_l(t) $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> that depends on the coordinate <inline-formula><tex-math id="M2">\begin{document}$ l $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> transverse to the primary direction of propagation. This direction is allowed to be general, but rational, generalizing earlier known results for the horizontal direction. We show that the behaviour of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M3">\begin{document}$ \gamma $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> can be asymptotically linked to the behaviour of a suitably discretized mean curvature flow. This allows us to show that travelling waves propagating in rational directions are nonlinearly stable with respect to perturbations that are asymptotically periodic in the transverse direction.</p>