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.     

On the existence of three solutions for the Dirichlet problem on the Sierpinski gasket

We apply a recently obtained three-critical-point theorem of B. Ricceri to prove the existence of at least three solutions of certain two-parameter Dirichlet problems defined on the Sierpinski gasket. We also show the existence of at least three nonzero solutions of certain perturbed two-parameter Dirichlet problems on the Sierpinski gasket, using both the mountain pass theorem of Ambrosetti and Rabinowitz and that of Pucci and Serrin.     

The asymptotic behaviour of the heat equation in a twisted Dirichlet-Neumann waveguide

We consider the heat equation in a straight strip, subject to a combination of Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. We show that a switch of the respective boundary conditions leads to an improvement of the decay rate of the heat semigroup of the order of t−1/2. The proof employs similarity variables that lead to a non-autonomous parabolic equation in a thin strip contracting to the real line, that can be analysed on weighted Sobolev spaces in which the operators under consideration have discrete spectra. A careful analysis of its asymptotic behaviour shows that an added Dirichlet boundary condition emerges asymptotically at the switching point, breaking the real line in two half-lines, which leads asymptotically to the 1/2 gain on the spectral lower bound, and the t−1/2 gain on the decay rate in the original physical variables.This result is an adaptation to the case of strips with twisted boundary conditions of previous results by the authors on geometrically twisted Dirichlet tubes.     

Eigenvalue asymptotics, inverse problems and a trace formula for the linear damped wave equation

We determine the general form of the asymptotics for Dirichlet eigenvalues of the one-dimensional linear damped wave operator. As a consequence, we obtain that given a spectrum corresponding to a constant damping term this determines the damping term in a unique fashion. We also derive a trace formula for this problem.     

Qualitative properties for solutions of singular elliptic inequalities on complete manifolds

We establish several qualitative properties for solutions of singular quasilinear elliptic differential inequalities on complete Riemannian manifolds, such as the validity of the compact support principle, of the strong maximum principle, existence of solutions to exterior Dirichlet problems, existence of dead core solutions.     

Phase transition of the principal Dirichlet eigenvalue in a scaled Poissonian potential

We consider d-dimensional Brownian motion in a scaled Poissonian potential and the principal Dirichlet eigenvalue (ground state energy) of the corresponding Schr?dinger operator. The scaling is chosen to be of critical order, i.e. it is determined by the typical size of large holes in the Poissonian cloud. We prove existence of a phase transition in dimensions d≥ 4: There exists a critical scaling constant for the potential. Below this constant the scaled infinite volume limit of the corresponding principal Dirichlet eigenvalue is linear in the scale. On the other hand, for large values of the scaling constant this limit is strictly smaller than the linear bound. For d > 4 we prove that this phase transition does not take place on that scale. Further we show that the analogous picture holds true for the partition sum of the underlying motion process. Received: 10 December 1999 / Revised version: 14 July 2000/?Published online: 15 February 2001     

Singularity of full scaling limits of planar nearcritical percolation

We consider full scaling limits of planar nearcritical percolation in the Quad-Crossing-Topology introduced by Schramm and Smirnov. We show that two nearcritical scaling limits with different parameters are singular with respect to each other. The results hold for percolation models on rather general lattices, including bond percolation on the square lattice and site percolation on the triangular lattice.     

Multiple constant sign and nodal solutions for nonlinear elliptic equations with the p-Laplacian

We consider a nonlinear elliptic equation driven by the p-Laplacian with Dirichlet boundary conditions. Using variational techniques combined with the method of upper-lower solutions and suitable truncation arguments, we establish the existence of at least five nontrivial solutions. Two positive, two negative and a nodal (sign-changing) solution. Our framework of analysis incorporates both coercive and p-superlinear problems. Also the result on multiple constant sign solutions incorporates the case of concave-convex nonlinearities.     

The Space of Parabolic Affine Sphereswith Fixed Compact Boundary

 The aim of this paper is to study the moduli space of solutions of the Dirichlet problem associated to the equation of Monge-Ampeère type, det , on an exterior planar domain. We prove that this moduli space is either empty or a differentiable manifold of dimension five. (Received 23 April 1999)     

G-convergence,Dirichlet to Neumann maps and invisibility

We establish optimal conditions under which the G-convergence of linear elliptic operators implies the convergence of the corresponding Dirichlet to Neumann maps. As an application we show that the approximate cloaking isotropic materials from [19] are independent of the source.     

Interior peak solutions for an elliptic system of FitzHugh-Nagumo type

We consider the Dirichlet problem for an elliptic system of FitzHugh-Nagumo type. We prove that the problem has a solution with a sharp peak inside the domain.     

Oscillatory radial solutions for subcritical biharmonic equations

It is well known that the biharmonic equation Δ²u=u|u|^p−1 with p∈(1,∞) has positive solutions on Rn if and only if the growth of the nonlinearity is critical or supercritical. We close a gap in the existing literature by proving the existence and uniqueness, up to scaling and symmetry, of oscillatory radial solutions on Rn in the subcritical case. Analyzing the nodal properties of these solutions, we also obtain precise information about sign-changing large radial solutions and radial solutions of the Dirichlet problem on a ball.     

Higher regularity for free boundary and tangential derivative problems and global solutions to regular reflections for the unsteady transonic small disturbance (UTSD) equations

We establish C^2,α$C^{2,\alpha }$-estimates for solutions of a class of quasilinear elliptic equations with free boundary and tangential derivative boundary problems. Using this regularity result we show the existence of global solutions to regular shock reflections for the unsteady transonic small disturbance (UTSD) equation. We also present Lipschitz estimates near the degenerate Dirichlet boundary (the sonic boundary) for the UTSD equation.     

Partially overdetermined elliptic boundary value problems

We consider semilinear elliptic Dirichlet problems in bounded domains, overdetermined with a Neumann condition on a proper part of the boundary. Under different kinds of assumptions, we show that these problems admit a solution only if the domain is a ball. When these assumptions are not fulfilled, we discuss possible counterexamples to symmetry. We also consider Neumann problems overdetermined with a Dirichlet condition on a proper part of the boundary, and the case of partially overdetermined problems on exterior domains.     

Time-dependent diffusion operators on <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Superscript>1</Superscript>

We study the Cauchy problem for time-dependent diffusion operators with singular coefficients on L¹-spaces induced by infinitesimal invariant measures. We give sufficient conditions on the coefficients such that the Cauchy-Problem is well-posed. We construct associated diffusion processes with the help of the theory of generalized Dirichlet forms. We apply our results in particular to construct a large class of Nelson-diffusions that could not been constructed before.     

The Perron method for p-harmonic functions in metric spaces

We use the Perron method to construct and study solutions of the Dirichlet problem for p-harmonic functions in proper metric measure spaces endowed with a doubling Borel measure supporting a weak (1,q)-Poincaré inequality (for some 1?q<p). The upper and lower Perron solutions are constructed for functions defined on the boundary of a bounded domain and it is shown that these solutions are p-harmonic in the domain. It is also shown that Newtonian (Sobolev) functions and continuous functions are resolutive, i.e. that their upper and lower Perron solutions coincide, and that their Perron solutions are invariant under perturbations of the function on a set of capacity zero. We further study the problem of resolutivity and invariance under perturbations for semicontinuous functions. We also characterize removable sets for bounded p-(super)harmonic functions.     

Nonlinear eigenvalues for anisotropic quasilinear degenerate elliptic equations

We consider the Dirichlet problem for a class of anisotropic degenerate elliptic equations.     

Roles of weight functions in a nonlinear nonlocal parabolic system

This paper deals with a semilinear parabolic system with coupled nonlinear nonlocal sources subject to weighted nonlocal Dirichlet boundary conditions. We establish the conditions for global and non-global solutions. It is interesting to observe that the weight functions for the nonlocal Dirichlet boundary conditions play substantial roles in determining not only whether the solutions are global or non-global, but also whether (for the non-global solutions) the blowing up occurs for any positive initial data or just for large ones.     

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.