Global Attractors of Evolutionary Systems

An abstract framework for studying the asymptotic behavior of a dissipative evolutionary system with respect to weak and strong topologies was introduced in Cheskidov and Foias (J Differ Equ 231:714–754, 2006) primarily to study the long-time behavior of the 3D Navier-Stokes equations (NSE) for which the existence of a semigroup of solution operators is not known. Each evolutionary system possesses a global attractor in the weak topology, but does not necessarily in the strong topology. In this paper we study the structure of a global attractor for an abstract evolutionary system, focusing on omega-limits and attracting, invariant, and quasi-invariant sets. We obtain weak and strong uniform tracking properties of omega-limits and global attractors. In addition, we discuss a trajectory attractor for an evolutionary system and derive a condition under which the convergence to the trajectory attractor is strong.     

Stability and Freezing of Nonlinear Waves in First Order Hyperbolic PDEs

It is a well-known problem to derive nonlinear stability of a traveling wave from the spectral stability of a linearization. In this paper we prove such a result for a large class of hyperbolic systems. To cope with the unknown asymptotic phase, the problem is reformulated as a partial differential algebraic equation for which asymptotic stability becomes usual Lyapunov stability. The stability proof is then based on linear estimates from (Rottmann-Matthes, J Dyn Diff Equat 23:365–393, 2011) and a careful analysis of the nonlinear terms. Moreover, we show that the freezing method (Beyn and Thümmler, SIAM J Appl Dyn Syst 3:85–116, 2004; Rowley et al. Nonlinearity 16:1257–1275, 2003) is well-suited for the long time simulation and numerical approximation of the asymptotic behavior. The theory is illustrated by numerical examples, including a hyperbolic version of the Hodgkin–Huxley equations.     

Algebra of Transversely Isotropic Sixth Order Tensors and Solution to Higher Order Inhomogeneity Problems

In this paper we provide a complete and irreducible representation for transversely isotropic sixth order tensors having minor symmetries. Such tensors appear in some practical problems of elasticity for which their inversion is required. For this kind of tensors, we provide an irreducible basis which possesses some remarkable properties, allowing us to provide a representation in a compact form which uses two scalars and three matrices of dimension 2, 3 and 4. It is shown that the calculation of sum, product and inverse of transversely isotropic sixth order tensors is greatly simplified by using this new formalism and appears to be appropriate for deriving new various solutions to some practical problems in mechanics which use such kinds of higher order tensors. For instance, we derive the fields within a cylindrical inhomogeneity submitted to remote gradient of strain. The method of resolution uses the Eshelby equivalent inclusion method extended to the case of a polynomial type eigenstrain. It is shown that the approach leads to a linear system involving a sixth order tensor whose closed form solution is derived by means of the tensorial formalism introduced in the first part of the paper.     

The Conjugacy of Stochastic and Random Differential Equations and the Existence of Global Attractors

We consider stochastic differential equations in d-dimensional Euclidean space driven by an m-dimensional Wiener process, determined by the drift vector field f₀ and the diffusion vector fields f₁,...,f_m, and investigate the existence of global random attractors for the associated flows . For this purpose is decomposed into a stationary diffeomorphism given by the stochastic differential equation on the space of smooth flows on R^d driven by m independent stationary Ornstein Uhlenbeck processes z¹,...,z^m and the vector fields f₁,...,f_m, and a flow generated by the nonautonomous ordinary differential equation given by the vector field (_t/x)^–1[f₀(_t)+ _i=1 ¹ f_i(_t)z _t ⁱ ]. In this setting, attractors of are canonically related with attractors of . For , the problem of existence of attractors is then considered as a perturbation problem. Conditions on the vector fields are derived under which a Lyapunov function for the deterministic differential equation determined by the vector field f₀ is still a Lyapunov function for , yielding an attractor this way. The criterion is finally tested in various prominent examples.     

Trajectory and Global Attractors of the Boundary Value Problem for Autonomous Motion Equations of Viscoelastic Medium

We introduce the concept of minimal trajectory attractor generalizing the known concept of trajectory attractor of an abstract evolution equation. We obtain several results on existence and properties of minimal trajectory and global attractors without assumptions of any invariance of the trajectory space of an equation. With the help of these results we prove existence of minimal trajectory and global attractors for weak solutions of the boundary value problem for autonomous motion equations of an incompressible viscoelastic medium with the Jeffreys constitutive law. The work was partially supported by grants 04-01-00081 of Russian Foundation of Basic Research, VZ-010-0 of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and CRDF and MK- 3650.2005.1 of President of Russian Federation.     

$${\mathcal{A}}$$-Stability of Global Attractors of Competition Diffusion Systems

We study the structural stability of global attractors (A{\mathcal{A}}-stability) for two-species competition diffusion systems with Morse-Smale structure. Such systems generate semiflows on positive cones of certain infinite-dimensional Banach spaces (e.g., fractional order spaces). Our main result states that a two species competition diffusion system with Morse-Smale structure is structurally A{\mathcal{A}}-stable, which implies that the set of nonlinearities for which the system possesses Morse-Smale structure is open in an appropriate space under the topology of C ²-convergence on compacta. Moreover, we provide a sufficient condition under which a system has Morse-Smale structure and provide some examples which satisfy the sufficient condition.     

Global Surfaces of Section in the Planar Restricted 3-Body Problem

The restricted planar three-body problem has a rich history, yet many unanswered questions still remain. In the present paper we prove the existence of a global surface of section near the smaller body in a new range of energies and mass ratios for which the Hill’s region still has three connected components. The approach relies on recent global methods in symplectic geometry and contrasts sharply with the perturbative methods used until now.     

Global Existence for a System of Non-Linear and Non-Local Transport Equations Describing the Dynamics of Dislocation Densities

In this paper, we study the global in time existence problem for the Groma-Balogh model describing the dynamics of dislocation densities. This model is a two-dimensional model where the dislocation densities satisfy a system of transport equations such that the velocity vector field is the shear stress in the material, solving the equations of elasticity. This shear stress can be expressed as some Riesz transform of the dislocation densities. The main tool in the proof of this result is the existence of an entropy for this system.     

Connectivity and Design of Planar Global Attractors of Sturm Type. III: Small and Platonic Examples

Based on a Morse-Smale structure, we study planar global attractors A_f{{\mathcal A}_f} of the scalar reaction-advection-diffusion equation u _t = u _xx + f (x, u, u _x ) in one space dimension. We assume Neumann boundary conditions on the unit interval, dissipativeness of f, and hyperbolicity of equilibria. We call A_f{{\mathcal A}_f} Sturm attractor because our results strongly rely on nonlinear nodal properties of Sturm type. The planar Sturm attractor A_f{{\mathcal A}_f} consists of equilibria of Morse index 0, 1, or 2, and their heteroclinic connecting orbits. The unique heteroclinic orbits between adjacent Morse levels define a plane graph C_f{{\mathcal C}_f} , which we call the connection graph. Its 1-skeleton C¹_f{{\mathcal C}^1_f} is the closure of the unstable manifolds (separatrices) of the index-1 Morse saddles. We summarize and apply two previous results (Fiedler and Rocha, J. Diff. Equ. 244: 1255–1286, 2008, Crelle J. Reine Angew. Math. 26 pp., 2009, doi:) which completely characterize the connection graphs C_f{{\mathcal C}_f} and their 1-skeletons C¹_f{{\mathcal C}^1_f}, in purely graph theoretical terms. Connection graphs are characterized by the existence of pairs of Hamiltonian paths with certain chiral restrictions on face passages. Their 1-skeletons are characterized by the existence of cycle-free orientations. Such orientations are called bipolar in de Fraysseix et al. (Discrete Appl. Math. 56: 157–179, 1995). We describe all planar Sturm attractors with up to 11 equilibria. We also design planar Sturm attractors with prescribed Platonic 1-skeletons of their connection graphs. We present complete lists for the tetrahedron, octahedron, and cube. We provide representative examples for the design of dodecahedral and icosahedral Sturm attractors. Unlike previous examples, and in particular unlike the classification of Sturm attractors with up to nine equilibria, our present results are based on analytic insight rather than mindless computer-based enumeration.     

Global Compensated Compactness Theorem for General Differential Operators of First Order

Let A ₁(x, D) and A ₂(x, D) be differential operators of the first order acting on l-vector functions ${u= (u_1, \ldots, u_l)}$ in a bounded domain ${\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^{n}}$ with the smooth boundary ${\partial\Omega}$ . We assume that the H ¹-norm ${\|u\|_{H^{1}(\Omega)}}$ is equivalent to ${\sum_{i=1}^2\|A_iu\|_{L^2(\Omega)} + \|B_1u\|_{H^{\frac{1}{2}}(\partial\Omega)}}$ and ${\sum_{i=1}^2\|A_iu\|_{L^2(\Omega)} + \|B_2u\|_{H^{\frac{1}{2}}(\partial\Omega)}}$ , where B _i  = B _i (x, ν) is the trace operator onto ${\partial\Omega}$ associated with A _i (x, D) for i = 1, 2 which is determined by the Stokes integral formula (ν: unit outer normal to ${\partial\Omega}$ ). Furthermore, we impose on A ₁ and A ₂ a cancellation property such as ${A_1A_2^{\prime}=0}$ and ${A_2A_1^{\prime}=0}$ , where ${A^{\prime}_i}$ is the formal adjoint differential operator of A _i (i = 1, 2). Suppose that ${\{u_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ and ${\{v_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ converge to u and v weakly in ${L^2(\Omega)}$ , respectively. Assume also that ${\{A_{1}u_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ and ${\{A_{2}v_{m}\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ are bounded in ${L^{2}(\Omega)}$ . If either ${\{B_{1}u_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ or ${\{B_{2}v_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ is bounded in ${H^{\frac{1}{2}}(\partial\Omega)}$ , then it holds that ${\int_{\Omega}u_m\cdot v_m \,{\rm d}x \to \int_{\Omega}u\cdot v \,{\rm d}x}$ . We also discuss a corresponding result on compact Riemannian manifolds with boundary.     

Convergence of Global and Bounded Solutions of Some Nonautonomous Second Order Evolution Equations with Nonlinear Dissipation

In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of solutions of the following nonautonomous wave equation with nonlinear dissipation.

$\left\{\begin{array}{ll} u_{tt}+\vert u_{t}\vert^{\alpha}u_{t}-\Delta u +f(u)=g(t,x),\quad{\rm in}\,\mathbb{R}_{+}\times\Omega,\\ \qquad\qquad u(t,x)=0,\quad\, {\rm on}\,\mathbb{R}_{+}\times\partial\Omega,\end{array}\right.$

where f is an analytic function, α is a small positive real and g(t, ·) tends to 0 sufficiently fast in L ²(Ω) as t tends to ∞.

We also obtain a general convergence result and the rate of decay of solutions for a class of second order ODE containing as a special case

$\left\{\begin{array}{ll} \ddot{U}(t)+\Vert\dot{U}(t)\Vert^{\alpha}\dot{U}(t)+\nabla F(U(t))=g(t),\quad t \in \mathbb{R}_+,\\ \qquad U(0)=U_{0}\,\in \mathbb{R}^{N},\quad\dot{U}(0)=U_{1}\in \mathbb{R}^{N}. \end{array}\right.$

     

Nonlinear Coherence in Multivariate Research: Invariants and the Reconstruction of Attractors

First, some linear techniques in multivariate time-series analysis in EEG research are reviewed to highlight the problem of estimating the dimensionality of the state space (embedding dimension), the reconstruction of an attractor, and the evaluation of invariant properties of the attractor. The traditional linear techniques included the usual spectral and cospectral measures of power, phase, and coherence to which stepwise discriminant analysis was applied for canonical representation of the attractor. Then, some traditional nonlinear techniques of attractor reconstruction and dimensional analysis which use the time-lagged univariate approach of Ruelle and Takens (Takens, 1981) are reviewed. Next, updates and multivariate generalizations that use singular-value decomposition (Broomhead & King, 1986) are reviewed. Finally, Stewart's (1995, 1996) multivariate generalization of the method of false nearest neighbors (Abarbanel, Brown, Sidorowich, & Tsimring, 1993; Kennel, Brown, & Abarbanel, 1992) is reviewed. These are particularly relevant for evaluating multivariate coherence in research on the complex cooperative dynamical systems found in neuroscience, psychology, and social science when time series of sufficient length are investigated.     

Describing the soil physical characteristics of soil samples with cubical splines

The Mualem-Van Genuchten equations have become very popular in recent decades. Problems were encountered fitting the equations’ parameters through sets of data measured in the laboratory: parameters were found which yielded results that were not monotonic increasing or decreasing. Due to the interaction between the soil moisture retention and the hydraulic conductivity relationship, some data sets yield a fit that seems not to be optimal. So the search for alternatives started. We ended with the cubical spline approximation of the soil physical characteristics. Software was developed to fit the spline-based curves to sets of measured data. Five different objective functions are tested and their results are compared for four different data sets. It is shown that the well-known least-square approximation does not always perform best. The distance between the measured points and the fitted curve, as can be evaluated numerically in a simple way, appears to yield good fits when applied as a criterion in the optimization procedure. Despite an increase in computational effort, this method is recommended over the least square method.     

Convergence of Global and Bounded Solutions of a Second Order Gradient like System with Nonlinear Dissipation and Analytic Nonlinearity

In this paper we establish convergence to equilibrium of all global and bounded solutions of a gradient like system of second order with nonlinear dissipation and analytic nonlinearity. We estimate also the rate of convergence.     

General Properties of the Nernst-Planck-Poisson-Boltzmann System Describing Electrocapillary Effects in Porous Media

The Nernst-Planck-Poisson-Boltzmann system describes the evolution of ionic concentrations and electrocapillarity effects in porous media. The aim of this paper is a theoretical study of various drift-diffusion modellings. The well-posedness of the systems is proved and some qualitative properties of the global solution are shown to be satisfied (energy law, entropy law in the weak sense of Lyapunov functions, stationary states, Maxwellian distribution, influence of an external electric field). Moreover, some explicit solutions are established in the one-dimensional case.