Geometrical models of interface evolution. III. Theory of dendritic growth

We construct a theory of velocity selection and tip stability for dendritic growth in the local evolution model. We show that the growth rate of dendritic patterns is determined by a nonlinear solvability condition for a translating finger. The sidebranching instability is related to a single discrete oscillatory mode about the selected velocity solution, and the existence of a critical anisotropy is shown to be due to the zero crossing of its growth rate. The marginal-stability hypothesis cannot predict the correct dynamics of this model system. We give heuristic arguments that the same ideas will apply to dendritic growth in the full diffusion system.