Multidimensional pattern formation has an infinite number of constants of motion.

Extending our previous work on 2D growth for the Laplace equation we study here multidimensional growth for arbitrary elliptic equations, describing inhomogeneous and anisotropic pattern formations processes. We find that these nonlinear processes are governed by an infinite number of conservation laws. Moreover, in many cases all dynamics of the interface can be reduced to the linear time–dependence of only one “moment” M0 which corresponds to the changing volume while all higher moments, Ml, are constant in time. These moments have a purely geometrical nature, and thus carry information about the moving shape. These conserved quantities (eqs. (7) and (8) of this article) are interpreted as coefficients of the multipole expansion of the Newtonian potential created by the mass uniformly occupying the domain enclosing the moving interface. Thus the question of how to recover the moving shape using these conserved quantities is reduced to the classical inverse potential problem of reconstructing the shape of a body from its exterior gravitational potential. Our results also suggest the possibility of controlling a moving interface by appropriate varying the location and strength of sources and sinks.