A note about the generalized Hardy-Sobolev inequality with potential in L^{{p,d}} {\left( {\mathbb{R}^{n} } \right)}

We present a generalized version of the Hardy-Sobolev inequality, in which the homogeneous potential is replaced by any potential V belonging to the Lorentz space . We show that the best constant in these inequalities is achieved provided that where . We also analyze the limit case . Finally an application to a non-linear eigenvalues problem with rough potentials is presented.Received: 19 September 2004, Accepted: 15 November 2004, Published online: 22 December 2004     

The monopolist’s problem: existence, relaxation, and approximation

We study a variational problem arising from a generalization of an economic model introduced by Rochet and Choné in [5]. In this model a monopolist proposes a set Y of products with price list . Each rational consumer chooses which product to buy by solving a personal minimum problem, taking into account his/her tastes and economic possibilities. The monopolist looks for the optimal price list which minimizes costs, hence maximizes the profit. This leads to a minimum problem for functionals (the “pessimistic cost expectation”) and (the “optimistic cost expectation”), which are in turn defined through two nested variational problems. We prove that the minimum of exists and coincides with the infimum of . We also provide a variational approximation of by smooth functionals defined in finite dimensional Euclidean spaces.Received: 2 March 2004, Accepted: 19 October 2004, Published online: 22 December 2004Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 49J45, 91B     

Regularity and relaxed problems of minimizing biharmonic maps into spheres

For and , we show that any minimizing biharmonic map from to S^k is smooth off a closed set whose Hausdorff dimension is at most n-5. When n = 5 and k = 4, for a parameter we introduce a -relaxed energy of the Hessian energy for maps in so that each minimizer of is also a biharmonic map. We also establish the existence and partial regularity of a minimizer of for .Received: 5 April 2004, Accepted: 19 October 2004, Published online: 10 December 2004     

On nonlocal calculation for inhomogeneous indefinite Neumann boundary value problems

This paper concerns with a family of inhomogeneous Neumann boundary value problems having indefinite nonlinearities which depend on a real parameter . We discuss the existence and the multiplicity of positive solutions with respect to . Developing the fibering method further, we can introduce a constructive concept of the calculation of certain nonlocal intervals , the so-called sufficient intervals of the existence. Then we are able to prove some new results on the existence and the multiplicity of positive solutions for .Received: 22 December 2003, Accepted: 29 January 2004, Published online: 16 July 2004Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 35J70, 35J65, 47H17     

Higher-order energy expansions and spike locations

We consider the following singularly perturbed semilinear elliptic problem: where is a bounded domain in R ^N with smooth boundary , is a small constant and f is some superlinear but subcritical nonlinearity. Associated with (I) is the energy functional defined by where . Ni and Takagi ([29, 30]) proved that for a single boundary spike solution , the following asymptotic expansion holds: where c ₁ > 0 is a generic constant, is the unique local maximum point of and is the boundary mean curvature function at . In this paper, we obtain a higher-order expansion of where c ₂, c ₃ are generic constants and is the scalar curvature at . In particular c ₃ > 0. Some applications of this expansion are given.Received: 14 January 2003, Accepted: 28 July 2003, Published online: 15 October 2003Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): Primary 35B40, 35B45; Secondary 35J25     

Augmentation and Modification Problems for Hermitian Matrices

We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the solvability of the augmentation and modification problems of order for Hermitian matrices. The augmentation problem consists in the construction of a Hermitian -matrix with a given -block in block -representation and with the prescribed eigenvalues. The modification problem consists in the construction of a Hermitian -matrix of rank not greater than so that the obtained matrix, being added to a given Hermitian -matrix , will have the required spectrum. We give an estimate for the minimal number of different eigenvalues of the solutions to these problems.     

The obstacle problem for Monge Ampere equation

We consider the following obstacle problem for Monge-Ampere equation and discuss the regularity of the free boundary . We prove that is if f is bounded away from 0 and , and it is C ^1,1 if .Received: 4 February 2003, Accepted: 3 March 2004, Published online: 16 July 2004     

Symmetry of positive solutions of an almost-critical problem in an annulus

We consider the subcritical problem & 0 & \qquad\textrm{in} \; A\\ u & = & 0 & \qquad\textrm{on} \; \delta A\\ \end{array} \right.$$" align="middle" border="0"> where A is an annulus in , , is the critical Sobolev exponent and 0$" align="middle" border="0"> is a small parameter. We prove that solutions of (I) which concentrate at one or two points are axially symmetric.Received: 7 July 2003, Accepted: 10 May 2004, Published online: 16 July 2004Filomena Pacella: Research supported by MIUR, project Variational Methods and Nonlinear Differential Equations.     

On the \Gamma-limit of the Mumford-Shah functional

We study by means of -convergence the asymptotics of the rescaled Mumford-Shah functional

On higher order Bessel potentials

The solutions of the equation in , where are investigated, Bessel potentials of higher order are defined, and recurrence relations between these solutions and these Bessel potentials are obtained. It is also proved that these solutions and the solutions of , under certain conditions, are identical. Received: 6 November 2002     

The relaxed Dirichlet energy of mappings into a manifold

Let be a smooth 1-connected compact oriented manifold without boundary, such that its 2-homology group has no torsion. We characterize in any dimension n the weak lower semicontinuous envelope of the Dirichlet integral of Sobolev maps in .Received: 6 November 2004, Accepted: 15 November 2004, Published online: 22 December 2004     

A minimum problem with free boundary for a degenerate quasilinear operator

In this paper we prove regularity (near flat points) of the free boundary 0\}\cap\Omega$" align="middle" border="0"> in the Alt-Caffarelli type minimum problem for the p-Laplace operator: 0\}}\right)dx\rightarrow \min\qquad (1 Received: 3 June 2003, Accepted: 9 June 2004, Published online: 8 February 2005Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 35R35, 35J60The first author is partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-0202801 and NSF CAREER Grant DMS-0239771     

Approximating <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>-holomorphic curves by holomorphic ones

Given an almost complex structure J in a cylinder of (p > 1) together with a compatible symplectic form and given an arbitrary J-holomorphic curve without boundary in that cylinder, we construct an holomorphic perturbation of , for the canonical complex structure J ₀ of , such that the distance between these two curves in W ^1,2 and norms, in a sub-cylinder, are controled by quantities depending on J, and by the area of only. These estimates depend neither on the topology nor on the conformal class of . They are key tools in the recent proof of the regularity of 1-1 integral currents in [RT].Received: 2 October 2003, Accepted: 18 November 2003, Published online: 25 February 2004     

Application of Upper Hemi-Continuous Operators on Generalized Bi-quasi-variational Inequalities in Locally Convex Topological Vector Spaces

Let and be Hausdorff topological vector spaces over the field , let be a bilinear functional, and let be a non-empty subset of . Given a set-valued map and two set-valued maps , the generalized bi-quasi-variational inequality (GBQVI) problem is to find a point and a point such that and for all and for all or to find a point a point and a point such that and for all . The generalized bi-quasi-variational inequality was introduced first by Shih and Tan [8] in 1989. In this paper we shall obtain some existence theorems of generalized bi-quasi-variational inequalities as application of upper hemi-continuous operators [4] in locally convex topological vector spaces on compact sets.     

$C^\infty$ regularity of the free boundary for a two-dimensional optimal compliance problem

We study the regularizing effect of perimeter penalties for a problem of optimal compliance in two dimensions. In particular, we consider minimizers of

Finite splitting fields of normal subgroups

Let G be a finite group, a normal subgroup, p a prime, a finite splitting field of characteristic p for G and We prove that is a splitting field for N, using the action of the Galois group of the field extension on the irreducible representations of N. As is a splitting field for the symmetric group S_n we get as a corollary that is a splitting field for the alternating group A_n. Received: 31 July 2003     

Problems on Extremal Decomposition of the Riemann Sphere

We apply a variant of the method of the extremal metric to some problems concerning extremal decompositions and related problems. Let be a system of distinct points on and let be the family of all systems of nonoverlapping simply connected domains on such that . Let

A Note on Extremes of Concomitants of Order Statistics

Let be a sequence of identically distributed variables. We study the asymptotic distribution of , where Y _[r:n] denotes the concomitant of the rth order statistic X _r:n , corresponding to , and is held fixed while . Conditions are given for the and to have the same asymptotic behavior as that we would apply if were i.i.d. The result is illustrated with a simple linear regression model , where is a stationary sequence with extremal index .     

Characterization of ideal knots

We present a characterization of ideal knots, i.e., of closed knotted curves of prescribed thickness with minimal length, where we use the notion of global curvature for the definition of thickness. We show with variational methods that for an ideal knot , the normal vector at a curve point is given by the integral over all vectors against a Radon measure, where realizes the given thickness. As geometric consequences we obtain in particular, that points without contact lie on straight segments of , and for points with exactly one contact point we have that points exactly into the direction of Moreover, isolated contact points lie on straight segments of , and curved arcs of consist of contact points only, all realizing the prescribed thickness with constant (maximal) global curvature.Received: 1 January 2003, Accepted: 12 March 2003, Published online: 1 July 2003Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 53A04, 57M25, 74K05, 74M15, 92C40     

Optimal lifting for BV(S 1,S 1)

For each , we solve the following variational problem and we show that .Received: 4 November 2003, Accepted: 10 May 2004, Published online: 16 July 2004Radu Ignat: Radu.Ignat@ens.fr