Isoperimetric inequalities,Wulff shape and related questions for strongly nonlinear elliptic operators

We investigate the first eigenvalue of a highly nonlinear class of elliptic operators which includes the p--Laplace operator $\Delta_p u=\sum_i {{\partial}\over{\partial x_i}} (\vert\nabla u \vert^{p-2}{{\partial u}\over{\partial x_i}})$, the pseudo-p-Laplace operator $\tilde\Delta_p u=\sum_i {{\partial}\over{\partial x_i}} (\vert {{\partial u}\over{\partial x_i}} \vert^{p-2} {{\partial u}\over{\partial x_i}})$ and others. We derive the positivity of the first eingefunction, simlicity of the first eigenvalue, Faber-Krahn and Payne-Rayner type inequalities. In another chapter we address the question of symmetry for positive solutions to more general equations. Using a Pohozaev-type inequality and isoperimetric inequalities as well as convex rearrangement methods we generalize a symmetry result of Kesavan and Pacella. Our optimal domains are level sets of a convex function H ^o. They have the so-called Wulff shape associated with H and only in special cases they are Euclidean balls.     

Stability for hypersurfaces of constant mean curvature with free boundary

The partitioning problem for a smooth convex bodyB ³ consists in to study, among surfaces which divideB in two pieces of prescribed volume, those which are critical points of the area functional.We study stable solutions of the above problem: we obtain several topological and geometrical restrictions for this kind of surfaces. In the case thatB is a Euclidean ball we obtain stronger results.Antonio Ros is partially supported by DGICYT grant PB91-0731 and Enaldo Vergasta is partially supported by CNPq grant 202326/91-8.     

Evolution equations for shapes and geometries

The first object of this paper is to introduce a new evolution equation for the characteristic function of the boundary Γ of a Lipschitzian domain Ω in the N-dimensional Euclidean space under the influence of a smooth time-dependent velocity field. The originality of this equation is that the evolution takes place in an L^p-space with respect to the (N − 1)-Hausdorff measure. A second more speculative objective is to discuss how that equation can be relaxed to rougher velocity fields via some weak formulation. A candidate is presented and some of the technical difficulties and open issues are discussed. Continuity results in several metric topologies are also presented. The paper also specializes the results on the evolution of the oriented distance function to initial sets with zero N-dimensional Lebesgue measure.     

Finite element approximations to surfaces of prescribed variable mean curvature

We give an algorithm for finding finite element approximations to surfaces of prescribed variable mean curvature, which span a given boundary curve. We work in the parametric setting and prove optimal estimates in the H¹ norm. The estimates are verified computationally.     

Integral Menger curvature for surfaces

We develop the concept of integral Menger curvature for a large class of nonsmooth surfaces. We prove uniform Ahlfors regularity and a C1,λ-a priori bound for surfaces for which this functional is finite. In fact, it turns out that there is an explicit length scale R>0 which depends only on an upper bound E for the integral Menger curvature Mp(Σ) and the integrability exponent p, and not on the surface Σ itself; below that scale, each surface with energy smaller than E looks like a nearly flat disc with the amount of bending controlled by the (local) Mp-energy. Moreover, integral Menger curvature can be defined a priori for surfaces with self-intersections or branch points; we prove that a posteriori all such singularities are excluded for surfaces with finite integral Menger curvature. By means of slicing and iterative arguments we bootstrap the Hölder exponent λ up to the optimal one, λ=1−(8/p), thus establishing a new geometric ‘Morrey–Sobolev’ imbedding theorem.As two of the various possible variational applications we prove the existence of surfaces in given isotopy classes minimizing integral Menger curvature with a uniform bound on area, and of area minimizing surfaces subjected to a uniform bound on integral Menger curvature.     

Boundary regularity for minimizing currents with prescribed mean curvature

We prove complete boundary regularity for energy minimizing integer multiplicity rectifiablen currents in ⁿ⁺¹ of prescribed mean curvatureH with boundaryB= represented by an oriented smooth submanifold of dimensionn – 1 in sun+1. We also give applications to the Plateau problem for surfaces with prescribed mean curvature.This article was processed by the author using the LaT_EX style filepljour1 from Springer-Verlag.     

Modelling of topological derivatives for contact problems

The problem of topology optimization is considered for free boundary problems of thin obstacle types. The formulae for the first term of asymptotics for energy functionals are derived. The precision of obtained terms is verified numerically. The topological differentiability of solutions to variational inequalities is established. In particular, the so-called outer asymptotic expansion for solutions of contact problems in elasticity with respect to singular perturbation of geometrical domain depending on small parameter are derived by an application of nonsmooth analysis. Such results lead to the topological derivatives of shape functionals for contact problems. The topological derivatives are used in numerical methods of simultaneous shape and topology optimization. Partially supported by the grant 4 T11A 01524 of the State Committee for the Scientific Research of the Republic of Poland     

Mourre's inequality and embedded bound states

A self-adjoint operator H with an eigenvalue λ embedded in the continuum spectrum is considered. Boundedness of all operators of the form AnP is proved, where P is the eigenprojection associated with λ and A is any self-adjoint operator satisfying Mourre's inequality in a neighborhood of λ and such that the higher commutators of H with A up to order n+2 are relatively bounded with respect to H.     

Absolute gradient bounds for nonparametric hypersurfaces of constant mean curvature

We consider the problem of determining the existence of absolute apriori gradient bounds of nonparametric hypersurfaces of constant mean curvature in ann-dimensional sphereB _R, 1>R>R ₀ ⁽ⁿ⁾ , (R ₀ ⁽ⁿ⁾ being a constant depending only onn), without imposing boundary conditions or bounds of any sort.

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Sunto Consideriamo il problema di determinare stime a priori di gradienti di ipersuperfici non parametriche di curvatura media costante in una sferan-dimensionaleB _R, 1>R>R ₀ ⁽ⁿ⁾, (R ₀ ⁽ⁿ⁾ essendo una costante che dipende solo dan), senza imporre condizioni al contorno o limiti di altro tipo.

     

An improved Hardy-Sobolev inequality in W 1,p and its application to Schrödinger operators

In this paper we prove new Hardy-like inequalities with optimal potential singularities for functions in W^1,p(Ω), where Ω is either bounded or the whole space and also some extensions to arbitrary Riemannian manifolds. We also study the spectrum of perturbed Schr?dinger operators for perturbations which are just below the optimality threshold for the corresponding Hardy inequality.     

List Homomorphisms and Circular Arc Graphs

G , H, and lists , a list homomorphism of G to H with respect to the lists L is a mapping , such that for all , and for all . The list homomorphism problem for a fixed graph H asks whether or not an input graph G together with lists , , admits a list homomorphism with respect to L. We have introduced the list homomorphism problem in an earlier paper, and proved there that for reflexive graphs H (that is, for graphs H in which every vertex has a loop), the problem is polynomial time solvable if H is an interval graph, and is NP-complete otherwise. Here we consider graphs H without loops, and find that the problem is closely related to circular arc graphs. We show that the list homomorphism problem is polynomial time solvable if the complement of H is a circular arc graph of clique covering number two, and is NP-complete otherwise. For the purposes of the proof we give a new characterization of circular arc graphs of clique covering number two, by the absence of a structure analogous to Gallai's asteroids. Both results point to a surprising similarity between interval graphs and the complements of circular arc graphs of clique covering number two. Received: July 22, 1996/Revised: Revised June 10, 1998     

Constant mean curvature surfaces of annular type

We consider large solutions of annular type to the volume constrained Douglas problem. They are conformally immersed H-surfaces. By rescaling we set the volume functional at one while the boundary curves shrink to the origin. We show that the solutions become spherical in a precise manner. Spherical bubbling may fail if the conformality condition is dropped. We also discuss the rotationally symmetric annular solutions to the H-surface equation and consider some illustrative examples. Received: 2 May 2000 / Accepted: 23 January 2001 / Published online: 4 May 2001     

Shell interactions for Dirac operators

The self-adjointness of H+V$H+V$ is studied, where H=−iα⋅∇+mβ$H=-i\alpha \cdot \mathrm{\nabla }+m\beta$ is the free Dirac operator in R³${\mathbb{R}}^3$ and V is a measure-valued potential. The potentials V under consideration are given by singular measures with respect to the Lebesgue measure, with special attention to surface measures of bounded regular domains. The existence of non-trivial eigenfunctions with zero eigenvalue naturally appears in our approach, which is based on well known estimates for the trace operator defined on classical Sobolev spaces and some algebraic identities of the Cauchy operator associated to H.     

Embedded minimal annuli solving an exterior problem

Given a compact, strictly convex body in ³ and a closed Jordan curve ³ satisfying several additional assumptions, the existence of a parametric, annulus type minimal surface is proved, which parametrizes along one boundary component, has a free boundary onX along the other boundary component, and which stays in ³. As a consequence of this and a reasoning developed by W. H. Meeks and S. -T. Yau we find an embedded minimal surface with these properties. Another application is the existence of an embedded minimal surface with a flat end, free boundary onX and controlled topology.This article was processed by the author using the LATEX style filepljourlm from Springer-Verlag.     

On the role of energy convexity in the web function approximation

For a given p > 1 and an open bounded convex set we consider the minimization problem for the functional over Since the energy of the unique minimizer u_p may not be computed explicitly, we restrict the minimization problem to the subspace of web functions, which depend only on the distance from the boundary δΩ. In this case, a representation formula for the unique minimizer v_p is available. Hence the problem of estimating the error one makes when approximating J_p(u_p) by J_p(v_p) arises. When Ω varies among convex bounded sets in the plane, we find an optimal estimate for such error, and we show that it is decreasing and infinitesimal with p. As p → ∞, we also prove that u_p − v_p converges to zero in for all m < ∞. These results reveal that the approximation of minima by means of web functions gains more and more precision as convexity in J_p increases.     

Application of variational inequalities to the moving-boundary problem in a fluid model for biofilm growth

We consider a moving-boundary problem associated with the fluid model for biofilm growth proposed by J. Dockery and I. Klapper, Finger formation in biofilm layers, SIAM J. Appl. Math. 62 (3) (2001) 853–869. Notions of classical, weak, and variational solutions for this problem are introduced. Classical solutions with radial symmetry are constructed, and estimates for their growth given. Using a weighted Baiocchi transform, the problem is reformulated as a family of variational inequalities, allowing us to show that, for any initial biofilm configuration at time t=0$t=0$ (any bounded open set), there exists a unique weak solution defined for all t≥0$t\ge 0$.     

The spiral minimal surfaces and their Legendre and Weierstrass representations

A class of spiral minimal surfaces in E³ is constructed using a symmetry reduction. The reduction leads to a cubic-nonlinear ODE whose phase portrait is described using an auxiliary Riccati's equation and the Warzewski topological principle for its solutions. The new surfaces are invariant with respect to the composition of rotation and dilation. The solutions are obtained in parametric form through the Legendre and the Weierstrass representations, and also their asymptotic behaviour is described.     

FUNCTORIAL PROPERTIES OF THE HOPF INVARIANT I

Abstract

Homotopy operations Θ: [ΣY, U] → [ΣY, V] which are natural in Y are considered. In particular a technique used in the definition of the Hopf invariant (as treated by Berstein-Hilton) shows that any fibration p: E → B with fiber V, when provided with a homotopy section of Ωp, determines such a homotopy operation [ΣY, E] → [ΣY, V]. More generally, starting from a track class of homotopies α º f ? β º g we adapt this fibration technique to construct a homotopy operation [ΣY, M(f,g)] → [ΣY, F _α * F _β] called a Hopf invariant. The intervening fibration in the definition of this Hopf invariant arises via the fiberwise join construction.