The method of upper and lower solutions for diffraction problems of quasilinear elliptic reaction-diffusion systems

The aim of this paper is to show the existence of solutions of the n-dimensional diffraction problem for weakly coupled quasilinear elliptic reaction-diffusion system. The coefficients of the equations under consideration are allowed to be discontinuous. We extend the method of upper and lower solutions for reaction-diffusion equations with continuous coefficients to the elliptic diffraction problem. An application of these results is given to the steady-state problem of Lotka-Volterra cooperation model with two cooperating species.     

Associate symmetries: A novel procedure for finding contact symmetries

A new method for finding contact symmetries is proposed for both ordinary and partial differential equations. Symmetries more general than Lie point are often difficult to find owing to an increased dependency of the infinitesimal functions on differential quantities. As a consequence, the invariant surface condition is often unable to be “split” into a reasonably sized set of determining equations, if at all. The problem of solving such a system of determining equations is here reduced to the problem of finding its own point symmetries and thus subsequent similarity solutions to these equations. These solutions will (in general) correspond to some subset of symmetries of the original differential equations. For this reason, we have termed such symmetries associate symmetries. We use this novel method of associate symmetries to determine new contact symmetries for a non-linear PDE and a second order ODE which could not previously be found using computer algebra packages; such symmetries for the latter are particularly difficult to find. We also consider a differential equation with known contact symmetries in order to illustrate that the associate symmetry procedure may, in some cases, be able to retrieve all such symmetries.     

Nonlinear fourth-order elliptic equations with nonlocal boundary conditions

This paper is concerned with a class of fourth-order nonlinear elliptic equations with nonlocal boundary conditions, including a multi-point boundary condition in a bounded domain of Rn. Also considered is a second-order elliptic equation with nonlocal boundary condition, and the usual multi-point boundary problem in ordinary differential equations. The aim of the paper is to show the existence of maximal and minimal solutions, the uniqueness of a positive solution, and the method of construction for these solutions. Our approach to the above problems is by the method of upper and lower solutions and its associated monotone iterations. The monotone iterative schemes can be developed into computational algorithms for numerical solutions of the problem by either the finite difference method or the finite element method.     

Global solvability for the Kirchhoff equations in exterior domains of dimension three

We consider the initial (boundary) value problem for the Kirchhoff equations in exterior domains or in the whole space of dimension three, and show that these problems admit time-global solutions, provided the norms of the initial data in the usual Sobolev spaces of appropriate order are sufficiently small. We obtain uniform estimates of the L¹(R) norms with respect to time variable at each point in the domain, of solutions of initial (boundary) value problem for the linear wave equations. We then show that the estimates above yield the unique global solvability for the Kirchhoff equations.     

The nonexistence of spurious solutions to discrete,two-point boundary value problems

We investigate difference equations which arise as discrete approximations to two-point boundary value problems for systems of second-order, ordinary differential equations. We formulate conditions under which all solutions to the discrete problem satisfy certain a priori bounds which are independent of the step-size. As a result, the nonexistence of spurious solutions are guaranteed. Some existence and convergence theorems for solutions to the discrete problem are also presented.     

The mixed problem for degenerate elliptic equations of second order

The present paper deals with the mixed boundary value problem for elliptic equations with degenerate rank 0. We first give the formulation of the problem and estimates of solutions of the problem, and then prove the existence of solutions of the above problem for elliptic equations by the above estimates and the method of parameter extension. We use the complex method, namely first discuss the corresponding problem for degenerate elliptic complex equations of first order, afterwards discuss the above problem for degenerate elliptic equations of second order.     

Nonexistence of global solutions of nonlinear evolution equations

We consider general nonlinear evolution equations of arbitrary order. For these equations, we find conditions under which the Cauchy problem has no solutions global in t > 0. We also estimate the time beyond which the solution of the considered Cauchy problem necessarily does not exist.     

Some exact solutions of the ideal MHD equations through symmetry reduction method

We use the symmetry reduction method based on Lie group theory to obtain some exact solutions, the so-called invariant solutions, of the ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations in (3+1) dimensions. In particular, these equations are invariant under a Galilean-similitude Lie algebra for which the classification by conjugacy classes of r-dimensional subalgebras (1?r?4) was already known. We restrict our study to the three-dimensional Galilean-similitude subalgebras that give us systems composed of ordinary differential equations. Here, some examples of these solutions are presented with a brief physical interpretation.     

Global solutions and invariant tori of difference-differential equations

We prove the existence of an m-parameter family of global solutions of a system of difference-differential equations. For difference-differential equations on a torus, we introduce the notion of rotation number. We also consider the problem of perturbation of an invariant torus of a system of difference-differential equations and study the problem of the existence of periodic and quasiperiodic solutions of second-order difference-differential equations.     

Analytical approximation for laminar film condensation of saturated stream on an isothermal vertical plate

In this paper, the laminar film condensation of saturated stream on an isothermal vertical plate is studied. The boundary layer equations of momentum and thermal energy are reduced to two ordinary differential equations by means of a set of similarity transformations. The problem is then solved analytically using the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The dual solutions are obtained for a range of values of the parameter η_δ. However, it should be noted that the second branch solution of the considered problem has only mathematical meanings. The present work shows the validity and the great potentiality of the proposed technique for the nonlinear problems with multiple solutions.     

Delay nonlinear boundary conditions as limit of reactions concentrating in the boundary

In this work, we are interested in the dynamic behavior of a parabolic problem with nonlinear boundary conditions and delay in the boundary. We construct a reaction–diffusion problem with delay in the interior, where the reaction term is concentrated in a neighborhood of the boundary and this neighborhood shrinks to boundary, as a parameter ? goes to zero. We analyze the limit of the solutions of this concentrated problem and prove that these solutions converge in certain continuous function spaces to the unique solution of the parabolic problem with delay in the boundary. This convergence result allows us to approximate the solution of equations with delay acting on the boundary by solutions of equations with delay acting in the interior and it may contribute to analyze the dynamic behavior of delay equations when the delay is at the boundary.     

On Global Existence of Solutions of Initial Boundary Value Problem for a System of Semilinear Parabolic Equations with Nonlinear Nonlocal Neumann Boundary Conditions

We establish conditions for the existence and nonexistence of global solutions of initial boundary value problem for a system of semilinear parabolic equations with nonlinear nonlocal Neumann boundary conditions. We show that these conditions are determined by the behavior of the problem coefficients as t→∞.     

On a General Class of Nonlocal Equations

Motivated by recent developments in cosmology and string theory, we introduce a functional calculus appropriate for the study of non-linear nonlocal equations of the form f(Δ)u = U(x, u(x)) on Euclidean space. We prove that under some technical assumptions, these equations admit smooth solutions. We also consider nonlocal equations on compact Riemannian manifolds, and we prove the existence of smooth solutions. Moreover, in the Euclidean case we present conditions on f which guarantee that the solutions we find are, in fact, real-analytic.     

A continuation theorem on periodic solutions of regular nonlinear systems and its application to the exact tracking problem for the inverted spherical pendulum

We present a continuation method to obtain a family of T-periodic solutions for a family of T-periodic systems.In particular, we present some sufficient analytical conditions, which have the advantage of being an easy application to some systems of interest in physics or engineering. We apply these conditions to the exact tracking problem for the inverted spherical pendulum.     

Generalized Solutions to Semilinear Elliptic PDE with Applications to the Lichnerowicz Equation

In this article we investigate the existence of a solution to a semi-linear, elliptic, partial differential equation with distributional coefficients and data. The problem we consider is a generalization of the Lichnerowicz equation that one encounters in studying the constraint equations in general relativity. Our method for solving this problem consists of solving a net of regularized, semi-linear problems with data obtained by smoothing the original, distributional coefficients. In order to solve these regularized problems, we develop a priori L ^∞-bounds and sub- and super-solutions to apply a fixed point argument. We then show that the net of solutions obtained through this process satisfies certain decay estimates by determining estimates for the sub- and super-solutions and utilizing classical, a priori elliptic estimates. The estimates for this net of solutions allow us to regard this collection of functions as a solution in a Colombeau-type algebra. We motivate this Colombeau algebra framework by first solving an ill-posed critical exponent problem. To solve this ill-posed problem, we use a collection of smooth, “approximating” problems and then use the resulting sequence of solutions and a compactness argument to obtain a solution to the original problem. This approach is modeled after the more general Colombeau framework that we develop, and it conveys the potential that solutions in these abstract spaces have for obtaining classical solutions to ill-posed non-linear problems with irregular data.     

Non-existence of small-amplitude doubly periodic waves for dispersive equations

We formulate the question of the existence of spatially periodic, time-periodic solutions for evolution equations as a fixed point problem, for certain temporal periods. We prove that if a certain estimate applies for the Duhamel integral, then time-periodic solutions cannot be arbitrarily small. This provides a partial analogue in the spatially periodic case of scattering results for dispersive equations on the real line, as scattering implies the non-existence of small-amplitude traveling waves. Furthermore, it also complements small-divisor methods (e.g., the Craig–Wayne–Bourgain method) for proving the existence of small-amplitude time-periodic solutions (again, for frequencies in certain set).     

Blow-up solutions of cubic differential systems

We investigate the existence problem for blow-up solutions of cubic differential systems. We find sets of initial values of the blow-up solutions. We also discuss a method of finding upper estimates for the blow-up time of these solutions. Our approach can be applied to systems of partial differential equations. We apply this approach to the Cauchy-Dirichlet problem for systems of semilinear heat equations with cubic nonlinearities.     

Existence and quasilinearization in Banach spaces

We establish some existence results for the nonlinear problem Au=f in a reflexive Banach space V, without and with upper and lower solutions. We then consider the application of the quasilinearization method to the above mentioned problem. Under fairly general assumptions on the nonlinear operator A and the Banach space V, we show that this problem has a solution that can be obtained as the strong limit of two quadratically convergent monotone sequences of solutions of certain related linear equations.     

Asymptotic error estimates of a linearized projection-difference method for a differential equation with a monotone operator

We study a projection-difference method of solving the Cauchy problem for an operatordifferential equation with a selfadjoint leading operator A(t) and a nonlinear monotone subordinate operator K(·) in a Hilbert space. This method leads to a solution of a system of linear algebraic equations at each time level. Error estimates are derived for approximate solutions as well as for fractional powers of the operator A(t). The method is applied to a model parabolic problem.