Analysis of a Degenerate Obstacle Problem on an Unbounded Set Arising in the Environment

We study a class of optimization dynamics problems related to investment under uncertainty. The general model problem is reformulated in terms of an obstacle problem associated to a second-order elliptic operator which is not in divergence form. The spatial domain is unbounded and no boundary conditions are a priori specified. By using the special structure of the differential operator and the spatial domain, and some approximating arguments, we show the existence and uniqueness of a solution of the problem. We also study the regularity of the solution and give some estimates on the location of the coincidence set.     

A complete global solution to the pressure gradient equation

We study the domain of existence of a solution to a Riemann problem for the pressure gradient equation in two space dimensions. The Riemann problem is the expansion of a quadrant of gas of constant state into the other three vacuum quadrants. The global existence of a smooth solution was established in Dai and Zhang [Z. Dai, T. Zhang, Existence of a global smooth solution for a degenerate Goursat problem of gas dynamics, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 155 (2000) 277-298] up to the free boundary of vacuum. We prove that the vacuum boundary is the coordinate axes.     

Rayleigh-type isoperimetric inequality with a homogeneous magnetic field

We prove that the two dimensional free magnetic Schrödinger operator, with a fixed constant magnetic field and Dirichlet boundary conditions on a planar domain with a given area, attains its smallest possible eigenvalue if the domain is a disk. We also give some rough bounds on the lowest magnetic eigenvalue of the disk.This article was processed by the author using the style filepljour1m from Springer-Verlag.     

Regularity of Lipschitz free boundaries in two-phase problems for the p-Laplace operator

In this paper we study the regularity of the free boundary in a general two-phase free boundary problem for the p-Laplace operator and we prove, in particular, that Lipschitz free boundaries are C1,γ-smooth for some γ∈(0,1). As part of our argument, and which is of independent interest, we establish a Hopf boundary type principle for non-negative p-harmonic functions vanishing on a portion of the boundary of a Lipschitz domain.     

The Green formula and layer potentials

The explicit form of all possible variants of the Green formula is described for a boundary value problem when the basic operator is an arbitrary partial differential operator with variable matrix coefficients and the boundary operators are quasi-normal with vector-coefficients. If the system possesses a fundamental solution, a representation formula for the solution is derived and boundedness properties of the relevant layer potentials, mapping function spaces on the boundary (Bessel potential, Besov, Zygmund spaces) into appropriate weighted function spaces on the domain are established. We conclude by discussing some closely related topics: traces of functions from weighted spaces, traces of potential-type functions, Plemelji formulae, Calderón projections, and minimal smoothness requirements for the surface and coefficients.     

Harnack inequalities,exponential separation,and perturbations of principal Floquet bundles for linear parabolic equations

We consider the Dirichlet problem for linear nonautonomous second order parabolic equations with bounded measurable coefficients on bounded Lipschitz domains. Using a new Harnack-type inequality for quotients of positive solutions, we show that each positive solution exponentially dominates any solution which changes sign for all times. We then examine continuity and robustness properties of a principal Floquet bundle and the associated exponential separation under perturbations of the coefficients and the spatial domain.     

Boundary behaviour for solutions of elliptic singular equations with a gradient term

We investigate the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary value problem for a class of second-order nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations with a gradient term and singular data. Under general conditions on the data, we study the behaviour of the solution near the boundary of the domain. Under suitable additional conditions we also investigate the second-order term in the asymptotic expansion of the solution in terms of the distance from the boundary.     

Global uniqueness and reconstruction for the multi-channel Gel?fand–Calderón inverse problem in two dimensions

We study the multi-channel Gel?fand–Calderón inverse problem in two dimensions, i.e. the inverse boundary value problem for the equation −Δψ+v(x)ψ=0, x∈D, where v is a smooth matrix-valued potential defined on a bounded planar domain D. We give an exact global reconstruction method for finding v from the associated Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator. This also yields a global uniqueness results: if two smooth matrix-valued potentials defined on a bounded planar domain have the same Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator then they coincide.     

Ginzburg-Landau equation with magnetic effect in a thin domain

We study the Ginzburg-Landau equation with magnetic effect in a thin domain in , where the thickness of the domain is controlled by a parameter . This equation is an Euler equation of a free energy functional and it has trivial solutions that are minimizers of the functional. In this article we look for a nontrivial stable solution to the equation, that is, a local minimizer of the energy functional. To prove the existence of such a stable solution in , we consider a reduced problem as and a nondegenerate stable solution to the reduced equation. Applying the standard variational argument, we show that there exists a stable solution in near the solution to the reduced equation if is sufficiently small. We also present a specific example of a domain which allows a stable vortex solution, that is, a stable solution with zeros. Received: 11 May 2001 / Accepted: 11 July 2001 /Published online: 19 October 2001     

Weighted Clément operator and application to the finite element discretization of the axisymmetric Stokes problem

We consider the Stokes problem in an axisymmetric three-dimensional domain with data which are axisymmetric and have angular component equal to zero. We observe that the solution is also axisymmetric and the velocity has also zero angular component, hence the solution satisfies a system of equations in the meridian domain. The weak three-dimensional problem reduces to a two-dimensional one with weighted integrals. The latter is discretized by Taylor–Hood type finite elements. A weighted Clément operator is defined and approximation results are proved. This operator is then used to derive the discrete inf–sup condition and optimal a priori error estimates.     

Persistence of the bifurcation structure for a semilinear elliptic problem on thin domains

We study a semilinear elliptic problem on thin domains with a bifurcation parameter. It is shown that the set of solutions is upper semicontinuous as the thickness of a domain tends to 0, and that solution branches including bifurcation points persist near those of a one-dimensional limiting equation.     

Degenerate nonlinear higher-order elliptic problems in domains with fine-grained boundary

We study the convergence of the solutions of the Dirichlet problem associated to a degenerate nonlinear higher-order elliptic equations in divergence form in variables domains, to a limit solution of the same type problem in a fixed domain, following the methods of the asymptotic expansion developed by Skrypnik [Methods for Analysis of Nonlinear Elliptic Boundary Value Problems, AMS, Providence, RI, 1994] modified to weighted higher-order case.     

Multiplicity of solutions for a quasilinear elliptic problem via the cohomological index

In this paper we study a quasilinear elliptic problem with the Dirichlet boundary condition in a bounded domain involving the operator Au=−Δ_pu−Δ_qu. Assuming that the nonlinearity has a concave-convex behavior we obtain some multiplicity results. More precisely, we obtain five nontrivial solutions; two by a minimization argument, two by the mountain pass theorem, and the other by a cohomological linking theorem.     

Existence and instability of spike layer solutions to singular perturbation problems

An abstract framework is given to establish the existence and compute the Morse index of spike layer solutions of singularly perturbed semilinear elliptic equations. A nonlinear Lyapunov-Schmidt scheme is used to reduce the problem to one on a normally hyperbolic manifold, and the related linearized problem is also analyzed using this reduction. As an application, we show the existence of a multi-peak spike layer solution with peaks on the boundary of the domain, and we also obtain precise estimates of the small eigenvalues of the operator obtained by linearizing at a spike layer solution.     

On low eigenvalues of the Laplacian with mixed boundary conditions

By means of the so-called α-symmetrization we study the eigenvalue problem for the Laplace operator with mixed boundary conditions. We obtain various bounds for combinations of the low eigenvalues and some sharp comparison results for the first eigenfunction in terms of Bessel functions.     

The spatial behavior of a strongly coupled non-autonomous elliptic system

This article is concerned with the spatial behavior of a strongly coupled non-autonomous elliptic system modeling the steady state of populations that compete in some region. As the competition rate tends to infinity, we obtain the uniform convergence result and prove that non-negative solution of the system converges to the positive and negative parts of a solution of a scalar limit problem.     

A family of degenerate elliptic operators: Maximum principle and its consequences

In this paper we investigate the validity and the consequences of the maximum principle for degenerate elliptic operators whose higher order term is the sum of k eigenvalues of the Hessian. In particular we shed some light on some very unusual phenomena due to the degeneracy of the operator. We prove moreover Lipschitz regularity results and boundary estimates under convexity assumptions on the domain. As a consequence we obtain the existence of solutions of the Dirichlet problem and of principal eigenfunctions.     

Existence of bounded solutions for nonlinear elliptic equations in unbounded domains

In this paper we study the existence of bounded weak solutions for some nonlinear Dirichlet problems in unbounded domains. The principal part of the operator behaves like the p-laplacian operator, and the lower order terms, which depend on the solution u and its gradient u, have a power growth of order p–1 with respect to these variables, while they are bounded in the x variable. The source term belongs to a Lebesgue space with a prescribed asymptotic behaviour at infinity.     

Homogenization of singular numbers for a non self-adjoint elliptic problem in a perforated domain

We consider the spectral problem for a non self-adjoint Dirichlet problem for a higher-order elliptic operator in a sequence of perforated domains. We establish the convergence of the singular numbers generated by the problem to the corresponding singular numbers generated by a limit problem of the same type but containing an additional term of capacity type.Research supported by the National Research Foundation of South Africa.     

Nonlinear BVPS with functional parameters

We study the existence, nonexistence and properties of solutions for a certain class of second-order ODEs and their dependence on functional parameters, also in the case when nonlinearities are, in some sense, singular. This approach is based on variational methods and cover both sublinear and superlinear cases. We develop a duality theory and variational principles for this problem. As a consequence of the duality theory we give a numerical version of the variational principle which enables approximation of the solution for our problem. We apply these results to obtain the existence of bounded, radial and positive classical solutions for the BVP of elliptic type. Observe that our method allows us to investigate a certain class of elliptic systems in both bounded annular domain and exterior domain.