A Variational Rod Model with a Singular Nonlocal Potential

The classical theory of elastic rods does not account for the possibility that large deformations may involve distinct points along the rod occupying the same physical space. We develop an elastic rod model with a pairwise repulsive potential such that, if two non-adjacent points along the rod are close in physical space, there is an energy barrier which prevents contact while for points nearby along the rod the potential is describable classically. This framework is developed to prove the existence of minimizers within each homotopy class, where the idea of topological homotopy of a curve is generalized to elastic rods as framed curves. Finally, the relevant first-order optimality conditions are derived and used to investigate the regularity of minimizers.     

NMS Flows on S 3 with no Heteroclinic Trajectories Connecting Saddle Orbits

In this paper we find topological conditions for the non existence of heteroclinic trajectories connecting saddle orbits in non singular Morse-Smale flows on S ³. We obtain the non singular Morse-Smale flows that can be decomposed as connected sum of flows and we show that these flows are those who have no heteroclinic trajectories connecting saddle orbits. Moreover, we characterize these flows in terms of links of periodic orbits.     

Action-Minimizing Orbits in the Parallelogram Four-Body Problem with Equal Masses

In this paper we prove the existence of a new periodic solution for the planar Newtonian four-body problem with equal masses. On this orbit two mass points travel on one star-shaped closed curve while the other two travel on another and have the opposite orientation. The configuration of the masses changes from square to collinear periodically and remains a parallelogram for all time. Our proof is based on a variational approach inspired by a recent work of Chenciner &; Montgomery [5]. By choosing an appropriate subspace of the Sobolev space H ¹([0,T],V), where V is the configuration space, we show that the action functional restricted to this subspace attains its infimum and any minimizer solves the Newtonian four-body problem. The orbits we found are indeed extensions of these minimizers. By studying the behavior of minimizers in reduced configuration space and comparing their action with rhomboid motions, we show that these minimizers do not experience any collision.     

Nonlinear Elliptic–Parabolic Problems

We introduce a notion of viscosity solutions for a general class of elliptic–parabolic phase transition problems. These include the Richards equation, which is a classical model in filtration theory. Existence and uniqueness results are proved via the comparison principle. In particular, we show existence and stability properties of maximal and minimal viscosity solutions for a general class of initial data. These results are new, even in the linear case, where we also show that viscosity solutions coincide with the regular weak solutions introduced in Alt and Luckhaus (Math Z 183:311–341, 1983).     

Existence of Solutions for a Mathematical Model Related to Solid–Solid Phase Transitions in Shape Memory Alloys

We consider a strongly nonlinear PDE system describing solid–solid phase transitions in shape memory alloys. The system accounts for the evolution of an order parameter χ (related to different symmetries of the crystal lattice in the phase configurations), of the stress (and the displacement u), and of the absolute temperature ?. The resulting equations present several technical difficulties to be tackled; in particular, we emphasize the presence of nonlinear coupling terms, higher order dissipative contributions, possibly multivalued operators. As for the evolution of temperature, a highly nonlinear parabolic equation has to be solved for a right hand side that is controlled only in L ¹. We prove the existence of a solution for a regularized version by use of a time discretization technique. Then, we perform suitable a priori estimates which allow us pass to the limit and find a weak global-in-time solution to the system.     

Energy minimization and the formation of microstructure in dynamic anti-plane shear

We investigate the behavior of a continuum model designed to provide insight into the dynamical development of microstructures observed during displacive phase transformations in certain materials. The model is presented within the framework of nonlinear viscoelasticity and is also of interest as an example of a strongly dissipative infinite-dimensional dynamical system whose forward orbits need not lie on a finite-dimensional attracting set, and which can display a subtle dependence on initial conditions quite different from that of classical finite-dimensional chaos.We study the problem of dynamical (two-dimensional) anti-plane shear with linear viscoelastic damping. Within the framework of nonlinear hyperelasticity, we consider both isotropic and anisotropic constitutive laws which can allow different phases and we characterize their ability to deliver minimizers and minimizing sequences of the stored elastic energy (Theorem 2.3). Using a transformation due to Rybka, we recast the problem as a semilinear degenerate parabolic system, thereby allowing the application of semigroup theory to establish existence, uniqueness and regularity of solutions in L ^p spaces (Theorem 3.1). We also discuss the issues of energy minimization and propagation of strain discontinuities. We comment on the difficulties encountered in trying to exploit the geometrical properties of specific constitutive laws. In particular, we are unable to obtain analogues of the absence of minimizers and of the non-propagation of strain discontinuities found by Ball, Holmes, James, Pego & Swart [1991] for a one-dimensional model problem.Several numerical experiments are presented, which prompt the following conclusions. It appears that the absence of an absolute minimizer may prevent energy minimization, thereby providing a dynamical mechanism to limit the fineness of observed microstructure, as has been proved in the one-dimensional case. Similarly, viscoelastic damping appears to prevent the propagation of strain discontinuities. During the extremely slow development of fine structure, solutions are observed to display local refinement in an effort to overcome incompatibility with boundary and initial conditions, with the distribution and shape of the resulting finer scales displaying a subtle dependence on initial conditions.     

Symmetry Groups and Non-Planar Collisionless Action-Minimizing Solutions of the Three-Body Problem in Three-Dimensional Space

Periodic and quasi-periodic solutions of the n-body problem can be found as minimizers of the Lagrangian action functional restricted to suitable spaces of symmetric paths. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic approach to the equivariant minimization for the three-body problem in three-dimensional space. First we give a finite complete list of symmetry groups fitting to the minimization of the action, with the property that any other symmetry group can be reduced to be isomorphic to one of these representatives. A second step is to prove that the resulting (local and global) symmetric action-minimizers are always collisionless (when they are not already bound to collisions). Furthermore, we prove some results which address the question of whether minimizers are planar or non-planar; as a consequence of our theory we will give general criteria for a symmetry group to yield planar or homographic minimizers (either homographic or not, as in the Chenciner-Montgomery eight solution). On the other hand we will provide a rigorous proof of the existence of some interesting one-parameter families of periodic and quasi-periodic non-planar orbits. These include the choreographic Marchal's P₁₂ family with equal masses – together with a less-symmetric choreographic family (which anyway probably coincides with the P₁₂ family).     

Equilibrium states of an elastic conducting rod in a magnetic field

Our principal concern is an analysis of the equilibrium states of a nonlinearly elastic conducting rod in a magnetic field. We assume hyperelasticity so the equilibria formally appear as critical points of a potential energy functional on the strains. Fairly standard methods give existence of a minimum (not necessarily unique) with e.g., L₂-regularity. The assumptions imposed on the functional preclude the use of the usual techniques for justification of the formal necessary conditions for optimality. A new general technique is developed to justify these conditions; it then follows that minimizers satisfy the equilibrium conditions in the classical sense. (A feature of this technique is that the variations considered are homotopies so one can consider minimization within a homotopy class.) In the symmetric case, which admits trivial (straight and untwisted) solutions, we show that nontrivial solutions also exist if the field is strong enough.     

A Melnikov Method for Homoclinic Orbits with Many Pulses

We present an extension of the Melnikov method which can be used for ascertaining the existence of homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits with many pulses in a class of near‐integrable systems. The Melnikov function in this situation is the sum of the usual Melnikov functions evaluated with some appropriate phase delays. We show that a nonfolding condition which involves the logarithmic derivative of the Melnikov function must be satisfied in addition to the usual transversality conditions in order for homoclinic orbits with more than one pulse to exist. (Accepted December 2, 1996)     

A Dynamical System Associated with the Fixed Points Set of a Nonexpansive Operator

We study the existence and uniqueness of (locally) absolutely continuous trajectories of a dynamical system governed by a nonexpansive operator. The weak convergence of the orbits to a fixed point of the operator is investigated by relying on Lyapunov analysis. We show also an order of convergence of \(o\left( \frac{1}{\sqrt{t}}\right) \) for the fixed point residual of the trajectory of the dynamical system. We apply the results to dynamical systems associated with the problem of finding the zeros of the sum of a maximally monotone operator and a cocoercive one. Several dynamical systems from the literature turn out to be particular instances of this general approach.     

Stored Energy Functions for Phase Transitions in Crystals

A method is presented to construct nonconvex free energies that are invariant under a symmetry group. Algebraic and geometric methods are used to determine invariant functions with the right location of minimizers. The methods are illustrated for symmetry-breaking martensitic phase transformations. Computer algebra is used to compute a basis of the corresponding class of invariant functions. Several phase transitions, such as cubic-to-orthorhombic, are discussed. An explicit example of an energy for the cubic-to-tetragonal phase transition is given.     

Cartesian currents,weak diffeomorphisms and existence theorems in nonlinear elasticity

Summary In this paper we introduce some new classes of functions, among these a class of weak diffeomorphisms. In these classes we prove by direct methods the existence of minimizers for several kinds of variational integrals. In particular, we prove the existence of one-to-one orientation-preserving maps that minimize suitable energies associated with hyperelastic materials. The minimizers are also proved to satisfy equilibrium equations. Finally radial deformations are discussed in connection with cavitation.     

Minimizing Sequences Selected via Singular Perturbations, and their Pattern Formation

We study the Cahn-Hilliard energy E _ɛ(u) over the unit square under the constraint of a constant mass m with (ɛ > 0) and without ɛ= 0) interfacial energy. Minimizers of E ₀(u) have no preferred pattern and we select patterns via sequences of conditionally critical points of E _ɛ(u) converging to minimizers as ɛ tends to zero. Those critical points are not minimizers if the singular limit has no minimal interface. We obtain them by a global bifurcation analysis of the Euler-Lagrange equations for E _ɛ(u) where the mass m is the bifurcation parameter. We make use of the symmetry of the unit square, and the elliptic maximum principle, in turn, implies that the location of maxima and minima is fixed for all solutions on global branches. This property is used to guarantee the existence of a singular limit and to verify the Weierstrass-Erdmann corner condition which proves its minimizing property. Accepted January 21, 2000?Published online November 24, 2000     

Inertial Manifolds and Forms for Stochastically Perturbed Retarded Semilinear Parabolic Equations

We construct inertial manifolds for a class of random dynamical systems generated by retarded semilinear parabolic equations subjected to additive white noise. These inertial manifolds are finite-dimensional invariant surfaces, which attract exponentially all trajectories. We study the corresponding inertial forms, i.e., the restriction of the stochastic equation to the inertial manifold. These inertial forms are finite-dimensional Ito equations and they completely describe the long-time dynamics of the system under consideration. The existence of inertial manifolds and the properties of inertial forms allow us to show that under mild additional conditions the system has a global (random) attractor in the sense of the theory of random dynamical systems.     

Multiple Brake Orbits and Homoclinics in Riemannian Manifolds

Let (M, g) be a complete Riemannian manifold, \({\Omega\subset M}\) an open subset whose closure is homeomorphic to an annulus. We prove that if ?Ω is smooth and it satisfies a strong concavity assumption, then there are at least two distinct geodesics in \({\overline\Omega=\Omega\cup\partial\Omega}\) starting orthogonally to one connected component of ?Ω and arriving orthogonally onto the other one. Using the results given in Giambò et al. (Adv Differ Equ 10:931–960, 2005), we then obtain a proof of the existence of two distinct homoclinic orbits for an autonomous Lagrangian system emanating from a nondegenerate maximum point of the potential energy, and a proof of the existence of two distinct brake orbits for a class of Hamiltonian systems. Under a further symmetry assumption, the result is improved by showing the existence of at least dim(M) pairs of geometrically distinct geodesics as above, brake orbits and homoclinic orbits. In our proof we shall use recent deformation results proved in Giambò et al. (Nonlinear Anal Ser A: Theory Methods Appl 73:290–337, 2010).     

Long-time Instability and Unbounded Sobolev Orbits for Some Periodic Nonlinear Schrödinger Equations

We study the energy cascade problematic for some nonlinear Schrödinger equations on ${\mathbb{T}^2}$ in terms of the growth of Sobolev norms. We define the notion of long-time strong instability and establish its connection to the existence of unbounded Sobolev orbits. This connection is then explored for a family of cubic Schrödinger nonlinearities that are equal or closely related to the standard polynomial one ${|u|^2u}$ . Most notably, we prove the existence of unbounded Sobolev orbits for a family of Hamiltonian cubic nonlinearities that includes the resonant cubic NLS equation (a.k.a. the first Birkhoff normal form).     

The Γ-Limit of the Two-Dimensional Ohta–Kawasaki Energy. I. Droplet Density

This is the first in a series of two papers in which we derive a Γ-expansion for a two-dimensional non-local Ginzburg–Landau energy with Coulomb repulsion, also known as the Ohta–Kawasaki model, in connection with diblock copolymer systems. In that model, two phases appear, which interact via a nonlocal Coulomb type energy. We focus on the regime where one of the phases has very small volume fraction, thus creating small “droplets” of the minority phase in a “sea” of the majority phase. In this paper we show that an appropriate setting for Γ-convergence in the considered parameter regime is via weak convergence of the suitably normalized charge density in the sense of measures. We prove that, after a suitable rescaling, the Ohta–Kawasaki energy functional Γ-converges to a quadratic energy functional of the limit charge density generated by the screened Coulomb kernel. A consequence of our results is that minimizers (or almost minimizers) of the energy have droplets which are almost all asymptotically round, have the same radius and are uniformly distributed in the domain. The proof relies mainly on the analysis of the sharp interface version of the energy, with the connection to the original diffuse interface model obtained via matching upper and lower bounds for the energy. We thus also obtain an asymptotic characterization of the energy minimizers in the diffuse interface model.     

On the formation of hidden chaotic attractors and nested invariant tori in the Sprott A system

We consider the well-known Sprott A system, which depends on a single real parameter a and, for \(a=1\), was shown to present a hidden chaotic attractor. We study the formation of hidden chaotic attractors as well as the formation of nested invariant tori in this system, performing a bifurcation analysis by varying the parameter a. We prove that, for \(a=0\), the Sprott A system has a line of equilibria in the z-axis, the phase space is foliated by concentric invariant spheres with two equilibrium points located at the south and north poles, and each one of these spheres is filled by heteroclinic orbits of south pole–north pole type. For \(a\ne 0\), the spheres are no longer invariant algebraic surfaces and the heteroclinic orbits are destroyed. We do a detailed numerical study for \(a>0\) small, showing that small nested invariant tori and a limit set, which encompasses these tori and is the \(\alpha \)- and \(\omega \)-limit set of almost all orbits in the phase space, are formed in a neighborhood of the origin. As the parameter a increases, this limit set evolves into a hidden chaotic attractor, which coexists with the nested invariant tori. In particular, we find hidden chaotic attractors for \(a<1\). Furthermore, we make a global analysis of Sprott A system, including the dynamics at infinity via the Poincaré compactification, showing that for \(a>0\), the only orbit which escapes to infinity is the one contained in the z-axis and all other orbits are either homoclinic to a limit set (or to a hidden chaotic attractor, depending on the value of a), or contained on an invariant torus, depending on the initial condition considered.     

Existence of Traveling Waves of Invasion for Ginzburg–Landau-type Problems in Infinite Cylinders

We study a class of systems of reaction–diffusion equations in infinite cylinders which arise within the context of Ginzburg–Landau theories and describe the kinetics of phase transformation in second-order or weakly first-order phase transitions with non-conserved order parameters. We use a variational characterization to study the existence of a special class of traveling wave solutions which are characterized by a fast exponential decay in the direction of propagation. Our main result is a simple verifiable criterion for existence of these traveling waves under the very general assumptions of non-linearities. We also prove boundedness, regularity, and some other properties of the obtained solutions, as well as several sufficient conditions for existence or non-existence of such traveling waves, and give rigorous upper and lower bounds for their speed. In addition, we prove that the speed of the obtained solutions gives a sharp upper bound for the propagation speed of a class of disturbances which are initially sufficiently localized. We give a sample application of our results using a computer-assisted approach.     

Repelling Dynamics Near a Bykov Cycle

What set does an experimenter see while he simulating numerically the dynamics near a Bykov cycle? In this paper, we discuss the fate of typical trajectories near a Bykov cycle for a $C^1$ -vector field and we establish that despite the existence of shift dynamics (chaos) nearby, Lebesgue—almost all trajectories starting in a small neighbourhood of a Bykov cycle are repelled.