On farthest points of sets

For a convex closed bounded set in a Banach space, we study the existence and uniqueness problem for a point of this set that is the farthest point from a given point in space. In terms of the existence and uniqueness of the farthest point, as well as the Lipschitzian dependence of this point on a point in space, we obtain necessary and su.cient conditions for the strong convexity of a set in several infinite-dimensional spaces, in particular, in a Hilbert space. A set representable as the intersection of closed balls of a fixed radius is called a strongly convex set. We show that the condition “for each point in space that is sufficiently far from a set, there exists a unique farthest point of the set” is a criterion for the strong convexity of a set in a finite-dimensional normed space, where the norm ball is a strongly convex set and a generating set.     

Uniqueness of transonic shock solutions in a duct for steady potential flow

We study the uniqueness of solutions with a transonic shock in a duct in a class of transonic shock solutions, which are not necessarily small perturbations of the background solution, for steady potential flow. We prove that, for given uniform supersonic upstream flow in a straight duct, there exists a unique uniform pressure at the exit of the duct such that a transonic shock solution exists in the duct, which is unique modulo translation. For any other given uniform pressure at the exit, there exists no transonic shock solution in the duct. This is equivalent to establishing a uniqueness theorem for a free boundary problem of a partial differential equation of second order in a bounded or unbounded duct. The proof is based on the maximum/comparison principle and a judicious choice of special transonic shock solutions as a comparison solution.     

The reduction in the vapour pressure in a closed volume due to condensation at the contact interface with a cold liquid

The reduction in the vapour pressure in a closed volume as a consequence of condensation at the interface with a cold liquid is investigation. Approximate formulae are obtained that describe the pressure drop when a vapour is in contact with cold water in the form of a liquid layer on a horizontal surface and also in the form of drops.     

Invariant diffusion processes under Lie group actions

We study a decomposition of a diffusion process in a manifold that is invariant under the action of a Lie group. As applications, we consider a diffusion process in a Euclidean space that is invariant under translations in a subspace, and a skew-product in a general setting.     

Frames for operators

Frames in Hilbert spaces are a redundant set of vectors which yield a representation for each vector in the space. In the present paper, we give a generalization of frames, which allows, in a stable way, to reconstruct elements from the range of a linear and bounded operator in a Hilbert space.     

On the acceleration of shock waves and concentration of energy

By a series of simple examples related to exact solutions of problems in gas dynamics and magnetohydrodynamics, possible mechanisms of acceleration of shock waves and concentration of energy are elucidated. The acceleration of a shock wave is investigated in the problem of motion of a plane piston at a constant velocity in the case when the initial density of the medium drops in the presence of constant counterpressure. It is shown that in this situation a “blow-up” regime is induced by a shock wave going to infinity in finite time even for limited work of the piston. A simple spherically symmetric solution with a converging shock wave is constructed and shown to lead to the concentration of energy. A general method for solving one-dimensional non-self-similar problems related to matching the equilibrium state to a motion with homogeneous deformation on a shock wave is discussed; this method leads to a solution in quadratures.     

Left versus right canonical Wiener-Hopf factorization and realization

For an arbitrary rational matrix function, not necessarily analytic at infinity, the existence of a right canonical Wiener-Hopf factorization is characterized in terms of a left canonical Wiener-Hopf factorization. Formulas for the factors in a right factorization are given in terms of the formulas for the factors in a given left factorization. All formulas are based on a special representation of a rational matrix function involving a quintet of matrices.     

Infinitesimal 2-braidings and differential crossed modules

We categorify the notion of an infinitesimal braiding in a linear strict symmetric monoidal category, leading to the notion of a (strict) infinitesimal 2-braiding in a linear symmetric strict monoidal 2-category. We describe the associated categorification of the 4-term relations, leading to six categorified relations. We prove that any infinitesimal 2-braiding gives rise to a flat and fake flat 2-connection in the configuration space of n particles in the complex plane, hence to a categorification of the Knizhnik–Zamolodchikov connection. We discuss infinitesimal 2-braidings in a certain monoidal 2-category naturally assigned to every differential crossed module, leading to the notion of a symmetric quasi-invariant tensor in a differential crossed module. Finally, we prove that symmetric quasi-invariant tensors exist in the differential crossed module associated to Wagemann's version of the String Lie-2-algebra. As a corollary, we obtain a more conceptual proof of the flatness of a previously constructed categorified Knizhnik–Zamolodchikov connection with values in the String Lie-2-algebra.     

Nonequilibrium Statistical Operator Method and Generalized Kinetic Equations

We consider some principal problems of nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics in the framework of the Zubarev nonequilibrium statistical operator approach. We present a brief comparative analysis of some approaches to describing irreversible processes based on the concept of nonequilibrium Gibbs ensembles and their applicability to describing nonequilibrium processes. We discuss the derivation of generalized kinetic equations for a system in a heat bath. We obtain and analyze a damped Schrödinger-type equation for a dynamical system in a heat bath. We study the dynamical behavior of a particle in a medium taking the dissipation effects into account. We consider the scattering problem for neutrons in a nonequilibrium medium and derive a generalized Van Hove formula. We show that the nonequilibrium statistical operator method is an effective, convenient tool for describing irreversible processes in condensed matter.     

DC programming techniques for solving a class of nonlinear bilevel programs

We propose a method for finding a global solution of a class of nonlinear bilevel programs, in which the objective function in the first level is a DC function, and the second level consists of finding a Karush-Kuhn-Tucker point of a quadratic programming problem. This method is a combination of the local algorithm DCA in DC programming with a branch and bound scheme well known in discrete and global optimization. Computational results on a class of quadratic bilevel programs are reported.     

The effective application of a new approach to the generalized orienteering problem

The Orienteering Problem (OP) is an important problem in network optimization in which each city in a network is assigned a score and a maximum-score path from a designated start city to a designated end city is sought that is shorter than a pre-specified length limit. The Generalized Orienteering Problem (GOP) is a generalized version of the OP in which each city is assigned a number of scores for different attributes and the overall function to optimize is a function of these attribute scores. In this paper, the function used was a non-linear combination of attribute scores, making the problem difficult to solve. The GOP has a number of applications, largely in the field of routing. We designed a two-parameter iterative algorithm for the GOP, and computational experiments suggest that this algorithm performs as well as or better than other heuristics for the GOP in terms of solution quality while running faster. Further computational experiments suggest that our algorithm also outperforms the leading algorithm for solving the OP in terms of solution quality while maintaining a comparable solution speed.     

A Linear Programming Construction of Fully Optimal Bases in Graphs and Hyperplane Arrangements

The fully optimal basis of a bounded acyclic oriented matroid on a linearly ordered set has been defined and studied by the present authors in a series of papers, dealing with graphs, hyperplane arrangements, and oriented matroids (in order of increasing generality). This notion provides a bijection between bipolar orientations and uniactive internal spanning trees in a graph resp. bounded regions and uniactive internal bases in a hyperplane arrangement or an oriented matroid (in the sense of Tutte activities). This bijection is the basic case of a general activity preserving bijection between reorientations and subsets of an oriented matroid, called the active bijection, providing bijective versions of various classical enumerative results.Fully optimal bases can be considered as a strenghtening of optimal bases from linear programming, with a simple combinatorial definition. Our first construction used this purely combinatorial characterization, providing directly an algorithm to compute in fact the reverse bijection. A new definition uses a direct construction in terms of a linear programming. The fully optimal basis optimizes a sequence of nested faces with respect to a sequence of objective functions (whereas an optimal basis in the usual sense optimizes one vertex with respect to one objective function). This note presents this construction in terms of graphs and linear algebra.     

Some Self-Similar Two-Phase Flows of Non-Newtonian Fluids Through a Porous Medium

Pascal This paper addresses the question of the rheological effects of non-Newtonian fluids in a flow system, in which a two-phase flow zone is coupled to a single-phase flow zone by a moving fluid interface. This flow system is involved in a technique for oil displacement in a porous medium, where a non-Newtonian displacing fluid (a polymer solution) is used to displace a non-Newtonian heavy oil. The self-similar solutions of the equations governing the dynamics of the moving interface, separating the displacing and displaced fluids, are obtained for the one-dimensional and plane radial flows. The effects associated with the presence of a two-phase flow zone, behind the moving interface, on the interface movement are analyzed. The existence of a pressure front ahead of the moving interface, moving with a finite velocity, is also shown. The relevance of this result to the propagation of pressure disturbances in a non-Newtonian fluid flowing through a porous medium is discussed with regard to interpretation of the transient pressure response in an injection well for polymer-solution floods.     

Closely embedded Kre?n spaces and applications to Dirac operators

Motivated by energy space representation of Dirac operators, in the sense of K. Friedrichs, we recently introduced the notion of closely embedded Kre?n spaces. These spaces are associated to unbounded selfadjoint operators that play the role of kernel operators, in the sense of L. Schwartz, and they are special representations of induced Kre?n spaces. In this article we present a canonical representation of closely embedded Kre?n spaces in terms of a generalization of the notion of operator range and obtain a characterization of uniqueness. When applied to Dirac operators, the results differ according to a mass or a massless particle in a dramatic way: in the case of a particle with a nontrivial mass we obtain a dual of a Sobolev type space and we have uniqueness, while in the case of a massless particle we obtain a dual of a homogenous Sobolev type space and we lose uniqueness.     

Explosive instability in nonlinear waves in media with negative viscosity : PMM vol. 38, n 6, 1974, pp. 991–995

The propagation of a wave of a finite amplitude in a medium with a nonlinearity of the second degree and negative viscosity, is examined. It is shown that in a finite time singularities appear in the solution. The exact solution of the Cauchy problem is given for a specific case. Recently the effects of negative viscosity which cause an increase in the energy of the wave motion have been studied intensively in electrodynamics, plasma physics, the Earth's atmosphere, in the theory of the circulation of the oceans and of flow in open channels [1–4], Wave amplification caused by an energy transfer from turbulent to regular motions, is possible in any medium having space-time fluctuations, provided the correlation time is sufficiently small [5, 6]. As the wave amplitude increases, nonlinear effects become important; they have been taken into account in cases where the interaction of a finite number of harmonics [2, 4] and the structure of steady motions have been examined [3].It is shown in this paper that in a medium with negative viscosity and a second degree dynamic nonlinearity, a solution of the Cauchy problem for an arbitrary “good” form of the initial perturbation, exists over a finite time interval. An example of such a solution is given.     

A parallel method for time discretization of parabolic equations based on Laplace transformation and quadrature

We consider the discretization in time of an inhomogeneous parabolicequation in a Banach space setting, using a representation ofthe solution as an integral along a smooth curve in the complexleft half-plane which, after transformation to a finite interval,is then evaluated to high accuracy by a quadrature rule. Thisreduces the problem to a finite set of elliptic equations withcomplex coefficients, which may be solved in parallel. The paperis a further development of earlier work by the authors, wherewe treated the homogeneous equation in a Hilbert space framework.Special attention is given here to the treatment of the forcingterm. The method is combined with finite-element discretizationin spatial variables.     

Finite-time singularity formation at a magnetic neutral line in Hall magnetohydrodynamics

The formation of a current sheet in a weakly collisional plasma can be modelled as a finite-time singularity solution of magnetohydrodynamic equations. We use an exact self-similar solution to confirm and generalise a previous finding that, in sharp contrast to two-dimensional solutions in standard MHD, a finite-time collapse to a current sheet can occur in Hall MHD. We derive a criterion for the finite-time singularity in terms of initial conditions, and we use an intermediate asymptotic solution for the evolution of an axial magnetic field to obtain a general expression for the singularity formation time. We illustrate the analytical results by numerical solutions.     

Selections of set-valued maps satisfying a linear inclusion in a single variable

We prove that a set-valued map satisfying a linear functional inclusion in a single variable admits (in appropriate conditions) a unique selection satisfying a linear functional equation in a single variable. As a consequence there follow results on the Hyers-Ulam stability of the linear functional equation in a single variable and the equation of homomorphism (of square symmetric groupoids).