Characterization of Dirichlet Forms by their Excessive and Co–Excessive Elements

It is proved that if S, T are two elliptic Dirichlet operators on an ordered Hilbert space such that the excessive (resp. coexcessive) elements with respect to S and T are the same then there exists > 0 with T = S. Particularly if , are two elliptic Dirichlet forms on L² ( ) having the same domain of definition and the same -excessive (resp. -coexcessive) elements for any > 0 then = .     

On Logarithmic Smoothing of the Maximum Function

We consider the maximum function f resulting from a finite number of smooth functions. The logarithmic barrier function of the epigraph of f gives rise to a smooth approximation g of f itself, where >0 denotes the approximation parameter. The one-parametric family g converges – relative to a compact subset – uniformly to the function f as tends to zero. Under nondegeneracy assumptions we show that the stationary points of g and f correspond to each other, and that their respective Morse indices coincide. The latter correspondence is obtained by establishing smooth curves x() of stationary points for g , where each x() converges to the corresponding stationary point of f as tends to zero. In case of a strongly unique local minimizer, we show that the nondegeneracy assumption may be relaxed in order to obtain a smooth curve x().     

Inverse Problems in the Theory of Singular Perturbations

First, in joint work with S. Bodine of the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, USA, we consider the second-order differential equation ² y'=(1+² (x, ))y with a small parameter , where is analytic and even with respect to . It is well known that it has two formal solutions of the form y^±(x,)=e^±x/h^±(x,), where h^±(x,) is a formal series in powers of whose coefficients are functions of x. It has been shown that one (resp. both) of these solutions are 1-summable in certain directions if satisfies certain conditions, in particular concerning its x-domain. We show that these conditions are essentially necessary for 1-summability of one (resp. both) of the above formal solutions. In the proof, we solve a certain inverse problem: constructing a differential equation corresponding to a certain Stokes phenomenon. The second part of the paper presents joint work with Augustin Fruchard of the University of La Rochelle, France, concerning inverse problems for the general (analytic) linear equations ^r y' = A(x,) y in the neighborhood of a nonturning point and for second-order (analytic) equations y' - 2xy'-g(x,) y=0 exhibiting resonance in the sense of Ackerberg-O'Malley, i.e., satisfying the Matkowsky condition: there exists a nontrivial formal solution such that the coefficients have no poles at x=0.     

Range of the posterior probability of an interval for priors with unimodality preserving contaminations

Range of the posterior probability of an interval over the -contamination class ={=(1–)₀+q:qQ} is derived. Here, ₀ is the elicited prior which is assumed unimodal, is the amount of uncertainty in ₀, andQ is the set of all probability densitiesq for which =(1–)₀+q is unimodal with the same mode as that of ₀. We show that the sup (resp. inf) of the posterior probability of an interval is attained by a prior which is equal to (1–)₀ except in one interval (resp. two disjoint intervals) where it is constant.     

On the Incompleteness of (k, n)-arcs in Desarguesian Planes of Order q Where n Divides q

We investigate the completeness of an ( nq – q + n – , n)-arc in the Desarguesian plane of order q where n divides q. It is shown that such arcs are incomplete for 0< n/2 if q/n3. For q = 2n they are incomplete for 0 < < 0.381n and for q = 3n they are incomplete for 0 < < 0.476n. For q odd it is known that such arcs do not exist for = 0 and, hence, we improve the upper bound on the maximum size of such a ( k, n)-arc.     

Lower semicontinuity of attractors of gradient systems and applications

Summary For 0₀, let T(t), t0, be a family of semigroups on a Banach space X with local attractors A. Under the assumptions that T₀(t) is a gradient system with hyperbolic equilibria and T(t) converges to T₀(t) in an appropriate sense, it is shown that the attractors {A, 0₀} are lower-semicontinuous at zero. Applications are given to ordinary and functional differential equations, parabolic partial differential equations and their space and time discretizations. We also give an estimate of the Hausdorff distance between A and A₀, in some examples.Research supported by U.S. Army Research Office DAAL-03-86-K-0074 and the National Science Foundation DMS-8507056.     

Regularization of Nonlinear Ill-Posed Variational Inequalities and Convergence Rates

Let H be a Hilbert space and K be a nonempty closed convex subset of H. For f H, we consider the (ill-posed) problem of finding u K for which 0 for all v K, where A : H H is a monotone (not necessarily linear) operator. We study the approximation of the solutions of the variational inequality by using the following perturbed variational inequality: for f H, f – f , find u, K for which 0 for all v K, where , , and are positive parameters, and K, a perturbation of the set K, is a nonempty closed convex set in H. We establish convergence and a rate O(1 / 3) of convergence of the solutions of the regularized variational inequalities to a solution of the original variational inequality using the Mosco approximation of closed convex sets, where A is a weakly differentiable inverse-strongly-monotone operator.     

Constraint decomposition algorithms in global optimization

Many global optimization problems can be formulated in the form min{c(x, y): x X, y Y, (x, y) Z, y G} where X, Y are polytopes in ^p , ⁿ , respectively, Z is a closed convex set in ^p+n, while G is the complement of an open convex set in ⁿ . The function c: ^p+n is assumed to be linear. Using the fact that the nonconvex constraints depend only upon they-variables, we modify and combine basic global optimization techniques such that some new decomposition methods result which involve global optimization procedures only in ⁿ . Computational experiments show that the resulting algorithms work well for problems with smalln.     

On Localization and Stabilization for Factorization Systems

If (, M)is a factorization system on a category C, we define new classes of maps as follows: a map f:AB is in if each of its pullbacks lies in (that is, if it is stably in ), and is in M ^* if some pullback of it along an effective descent map lies in M(that is, if it is locally in M). We find necessary and sufficient conditions for (, M ^*) to be another factorization system, and show that a number of interesting factorization systems arise in this way. We further make the connexion with Galois theory, where M ^*is the class of coverings; and include self-contained modern accounts of factorization systems, descent theory, and Galois theory.     

Sharp Large Deviation Estimates for the Stochastic Heat Equation

We consider the family {X , 0} of solution to the heat equation on [0,T]×[0,1] perturbed by a small space-time white noise, that is _t X = X +b({X })+({X }) . Then, for a large class of Borelian subsets of the continuous functions on [0,T]×[0,1], we get an asymptotic expansion of P({X }A) as 0. This kind of expansion has been handled for several stochastic systems, ranging from Wiener integrals to diffusion processes.     

On error behaviour of partitioned linearly implicit runge-kutta methods for stiff and differential algebraic systems

This paper studies partitioned linearly implicit Runge-Kutta methods as applied to approximate the smooth solution of a perturbed problem with stepsizes larger than the stiffness parameter. Conditions are supplied for construction of methods of arbitrary order. The local and global error are analyzed and the limiting case 0 considered yielding a partitioned linearly implicit Runge-Kutta method for differential-algebraic equations of index one. Finally, some numerical experiments demonstrate our theoretical results.     

Extensions and selections in subspaces ofC(K)

LetK be a compact Hausdorff space and letFK be a peak interpolation set for a function algebraAC(K). Let be a map fromK to the family of all convex subsets of such that the set {(z, x)zK, x(z)} is open inK×C and such thatg(z)(z) (zK) for somegA. We prove that everyfC(F) satisfyingf(s)(s) (sF) (f(s)closure (s) (sF)) admits an extensionfAA} satisfyingf(z)(z) (zK) (f(z))}closure (z) (zK), respectively). We prove a more general theorem of this kind and present various applications which generalize known dominated interpolation theorems for subspaces ofC(K).     

Pointwise displacement errors in linear shell theory resulting from errors in the stress-strain relations

It is rigorously proved that relative errors of order in the stress-strain relations of linear shell theory result in relative pointwise errors in the solution displacement field of order .

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Zusammenfassung Für die Theorie dünner Schalen wird bewiesen, daß ein relativer Fehler der Größe in den Spannungs-Dehnungs-Beziehungen einen relativen lokalen Fehler der Größe in der Lösung für das Verschiebungsfeld erzeugt.

     

Spectral parameter asymptotics of the Weyl solutions of Sturm-Liouville equations

In the paper one investigates the dependence of Weyl's solution ,)=c(,)+n()s(,) of the Sturm-Liouville equation y+q()y=²y on the spectral parameter . Under the condition that the potential q is bounded from below and q()exp(c₀+c[in1 ¦¦), it is proved for {ie217-01} for any positive values and A. If q()>1 and {ie217-02} for all >0, then in the semiplane >0 the Weyl solution (, ) is obtained from the Weyl solution (,x) is obtained from the Weyl solution e^ix with zero potential, with the aid of a generalization of B. Ya Levin's transformation operators.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova Akademii Nauk SSSR, Vol. 170, pp. 184–206, 1989.I express my sincere gratitude to L. A. Pastur and I. V. Ostrovskii for valuable advice and discussions.     

Almost flat locally finite coverings of the sphere

For any subset A of the unit sphere of a Banach space X and for [0,2) the notion of -flatness is introduced as a measure of non-flatness of A. For any positive , construction of locally finite tilings of the unit sphere by -flat sets is carried out under suitable -renormings of X in a quite general context; moreover, a characterization of spaces having separable dual is provided in terms of the existence of such tilings. Finally, relationships between the possibility of getting such tilings of the unit sphere in the given norm and smoothness properties of the norm are discussed.     

Asymptotic error expansions for stiff equations: an analysis for the implicit midpoint and trapezoidal rules in the strongly stiff case

Summary The structure of the global discretization error is studied for the implicit midpoint and trapezoidal rules applied to nonlinearstiff initial value problems. The point is that, in general, the global error contains nonsmooth (oscillating) terms at the dominanth ²-level. However, it is shown in the present paper that for special classes of stiff problems these nonsmooth terms contain an additional factor (where-1/ is the magnitude of the stiff eigenvalues). In these cases a full asymptotic error expansion exists in thestrongly stiff case ( sufficiently small compared to the stepsizeh). The general case (where the oscillating error components areO(h ²) and notO(h ²)) and applications of our results (extrapolation and defect correction algorithims) will be studied in separate papers.     

An algebraic approach to the vector ε-algorithm

The vector -algorithm is obtained from the scalar -algorithm by taking the pseudo-inverse of a vector instead of the inverse of a scalar. Thus the vector -algorithm is known only through its rules contrarily to the scalar -algorithm and some other extrapolation algorithms.The aim of this paper is to provide an algebraic approach to the vector -algorithm.     

Epsilon efficiency

This paper considers the extension of -optimality for scalar problems to vector maximization problems, or efficiency problems, which havem objective functions defined on a set .It is shown that the natural extension of the scalar -optimality concepts [viz, given >0, given a solution setS, ifxS there exists an efficient solutiony with f(x)–f(y), and given an efficient solutiony, there exists anxS with f(x)–f(y)] do not hold for some methods used. Six concepts of -efficient sets are introduced and examined, to a very limited extent, in the context of five methods used for generating efficient points or near efficient points.In doing so, a distinction is drawn between methods in which the surrogate optimizations are carried out exactly, and those where terminal -optimal solutions are obtained.The author would like to thank the referees whose thoroughness was extremely helpful for the revised paper.     

Stability of Bounded Solutions of Differential Equations with Small Parameter in a Banach Space

For a sectorial operator A with spectrum (A) that acts in a complex Banach space B, we prove that the condition (A) i R = Ø is sufficient for the differential equation where is a small positive parameter, to have a unique bounded solution x for an arbitrary bounded function f: R B that satisfies a certain Hölder condition. We also establish that bounded solutions of these equations converge uniformly on R as 0+ to the unique bounded solution of the differential equation x(t) = Ax(t) + f(t).     

Shift-coupling in continuous time

Summary The result linking shift-coupling to time-average total variation convergence and to the invariant -field is extended to continuous time and an analogous result established linking -couplings to smooth total variation convergence and to a smooth tail -field. Shift- and -coupling inequalities are presented.