Existence and non-existence of solutions for a class of Monge-Ampère equations

We study the boundary value problems for Monge-Ampère equations: detD²u=e−u in Ω⊂Rn, n?1, u_|∂Ω=0. First we prove that any solution on the ball is radially symmetric by the argument of moving plane. Then we show there exists a critical radius such that if the radius of a ball is smaller than this critical value there exists a solution, and vice versa. Using the comparison between domains we can prove that this phenomenon occurs for every domain. Finally we consider an equivalent problem with a parameter detD²u=e−tu in Ω, u_|∂Ω=0, t?0. By using Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction method we get the local structure of the solutions near a degenerate point; by Leray-Schauder degree theory, a priori estimate and bifurcation theory we get the global structure.     

On nonlinear diffusion problems with strong degeneracy

In this paper, we study the “triply” degenerate problem: bt(v)−Δg(v)+divΦ(v)=f on Q:=(0,T)×Ω, b(v(0,⋅))=b(v₀) on Ω and “g(v)=g(a) on some part of the boundary (0,T)×∂Ω,” in the case of continuous nonhomogeneous and nonstationary boundary data a. The functions b,g are assumed to be continuous, locally Lipschitz, nondecreasing and to verify the normalization condition b(0)=g(0)=0 and the range condition R(b+g)=R. Using monotonicity and penalization methods, we prove existence of a weak renormalized entropy solution in the spirit of [K. Ammar, J. Carrillo, P. Wittbold, Scalar conservation laws with general boundary condition and continuous flux function, J. Differential Equations 228 (2006) 111-139].     

A remark on least-squares Galerkin procedures for pseudohyperbolic equations

In this paper, we introduce two split least-squares Galerkin finite element procedures for pseudohyperbolic equations arising in the modelling of nerve conduction process. By selecting the least-squares functional properly, the procedures can be split into two sub-procedures, one of which is for the primitive unknown variable and the other is for the flux. The convergence analysis shows that both the two methods yield the approximate solutions with optimal accuracy in L²(Ω)$L^2\left(\Omega \right)$ norm for u$u$ and _ut$u_t$ and (L²(Ω))²${\left(L^2\left(\Omega \right)\right)}^2$ norm for the flux σ$\sigma$. Moreover, the two methods get approximate solutions with first-order and second-order accuracy in time increment, respectively. A numerical example is given to show the efficiency of the introduced schemes.     

The behavior of the best Sobolev trace constant and extremals in thin domains

In this paper, we study the asymptotic behavior of the best Sobolev trace constant and extremals for the immersion W1,p(Ω)?Lq(∂Ω) in a bounded smooth domain when it is contracted in one direction. We find that the limit problem, when rescaled in a suitable way, is a Sobolev-type immersion in weighted spaces over a projection of Ω, W1,p(P(Ω),α)?Lq(P(Ω),β).For the special case p=q, this problem leads to an eigenvalue problem with a nonlinear boundary condition. We also study the convergence of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors in this case.     

Optimal error estimate and superconvergence of the DG method for first-order hyperbolic problems

We consider the original discontinuous Galerkin method for the first-order hyperbolic problems in d-dimensional space. We show that, when the method uses polynomials of degree k, the L₂-error estimate is of order k+1 provided the triangulation is made of rectangular elements satisfying certain conditions. Further, we show the O(h^2k+1)-order superconvergence for the error on average on some suitably chosen subdomains (including the whole domain) and their outflow faces. Moreover, we also establish a derivative recovery formula for the approximation of the convection directional derivative which is superconvergent with order k+1.     

A uniqueness result for a semilinear elliptic problem: A computer-assisted proof

Starting with the famous article [A. Gidas, W.M. Ni, L. Nirenberg, Symmetry and related properties via the maximum principle, Comm. Math. Phys. 68 (1979) 209-243], many papers have been devoted to the uniqueness question for positive solutions of −Δu=λu+up in Ω, u=0 on ∂Ω, where p>1 and λ ranges between 0 and the first Dirichlet eigenvalue λ₁(Ω) of −Δ. For the case when Ω is a ball, uniqueness could be proved, mainly by ODE techniques. But very little is known when Ω is not a ball, and then only for λ=0. In this article, we prove uniqueness, for all λ∈[0,λ₁(Ω)), in the case Ω=²(0,1) and p=2. This constitutes the first positive answer to the uniqueness question in a domain different from a ball. Our proof makes heavy use of computer assistance: we compute a branch of approximate solutions and prove existence of a true solution branch close to it, using fixed point techniques. By eigenvalue enclosure methods, and an additional analytical argument for λ close to λ₁(Ω), we deduce the non-degeneracy of all solutions along this branch, whence uniqueness follows from the known bifurcation structure of the problem.     

Spectral element methods for parabolic problems

A spectral element method for solving parabolic initial boundary value problems on smooth domains using parallel computers is presented in this paper. The space domain is divided into a number of shape regular quadrilaterals of size h and the time step k   is proportional to h²$h^2$. At each time step we minimize a functional which is the sum of the squares of the residuals in the partial differential equation, initial condition and boundary condition in different Sobolev norms and a term which measures the jump in the function and its derivatives across inter-element boundaries in certain Sobolev norms. The Sobolev spaces used are of different orders in space and time. We can define a preconditioner for the minimization problem which allows the problem to decouple. Error estimates are obtained for both the h and p versions of this method.     

An energy-decreasing rearrangement of level sets preserving the domain and volume constraints

Let Ω⊂R² be a bounded and regular domain, u∈C³(Ω) and V⊂Ω a domain where the subset K₀ of points where the curvature of the t-level sets of u is zero admits a regular t-parameterization. We exhibit a local correction of u in a neighborhood of a particular point x^∗∈K₀⊂V such that the volume ∫f(u) is preserved and the Dirichlet integral ∫²|∇u| decreases. Consequently, a certain monotonic property is deduced for constrained minimizers in H¹(Ω). Our result can be applied to classical variational and free-boundary problems.     

Controlled topology invariants of translation actions

We develop invariants Ωn of a translation action of a group on Rm analogous to the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel-Renz invariants Σn. The invariants Σn were defined to be the set of “directions” e∈_∂∞Rm such that a suitable universal G-space is (n−1)-connected over the half-spaces defined by e. We replace half-spaces by topologically more natural neighborhoods of e to obtain the new invariants Ωn. The invariants Σn and Ωn are related as follows: e∈Ωn if and only if every e^′ in an open -neighborhood of e lies in Σn.     

Ranges of positive contractive projections in Nakano spaces

We show that in any nontrivial Nakano space X=L_p(·) (Ω, Σ, μ) with essentially bounded random exponent function p(·), the range Y = R(P) of a positive contractive projection P is itself representable as a Nakano space L_pY(·) (Ω_Y Σ_Y, ν_Y), for a certain measurable set Y_Ω⊆Ω (the support of the range), a certain sub-sigma ring Y_Σ⊆Σ (with maximal element Ω_Y) naturally determined by the lattice structure of Y, and a semi-finite measure ν_Y, namely the restriction of some measure Ω on E which is equivalent to μ. Furthermore, we show that the random exponent p_Y(·) associated with such a range can be taken to be the restriction to Ω_Y of the random exponent p(·) (this restriction turns out to be Σ_Y-measurable). As an application of this result, we find Banach lattice isometric characterizations of suitable classes of Nakano spaces. These classes are defined in terms of an important lattice-isometric invariant of Nakano spaces, the essential range of the variable exponent.     

Existence of positive solutions for the Hénon equation involving critical Sobolev terms

Let N?3, ^2*=2N/(N−2) and Ω⊂RN be a bounded domain with a smooth boundary ∂Ω and 0∈Ω. Our purpose in this paper is to consider the existence of solutions of Hénon equation:

     

Generating transformation semigroups using endomorphisms of preorders, graphs, and tolerances

Let Ω^Ω be the semigroup of all mappings of a countably infinite set Ω. If U and V are subsemigroups of Ω^Ω, then we write U≈V if there exists a finite subset F of Ω^Ω such that the subsemigroup generated by U and F equals that generated by V and F. The relative rank of U in Ω^Ω is the least cardinality of a subset A of Ω^Ω such that the union of U and A generates Ω^Ω. In this paper we study the notions of relative rank and the equivalence ≈ for semigroups of endomorphisms of binary relations on Ω.The semigroups of endomorphisms of preorders, bipartite graphs, and tolerances on Ω are shown to lie in two equivalence classes under ≈. Moreover such semigroups have relative rank 0, 1, 2, or d in Ω^Ω where d is the minimum cardinality of a dominating family for N^N. We give examples of preorders, bipartite graphs, and tolerances on Ω where the relative ranks of their endomorphism semigroups in Ω^Ω are 0, 1, 2, and d.We show that the endomorphism semigroups of graphs, in general, fall into at least four classes under ≈ and that there exist graphs where the relative rank of the endomorphism semigroup is 2^ℵ₀.     

Lane-Emden-Fowler equations with convection and singular potential

We are concerned with singular elliptic problems of the form −Δu±p(d(x))g(u)=λf(x,u)+μa|∇u| in Ω, where Ω is a smooth bounded domain in RN, d(x)=dist(x,∂Ω), λ>0, μ∈R, 0<a?2, and f is a nondecreasing function. We assume that p(d(x)) is a positive weight with possible singular behavior on the boundary of Ω and that the nonlinearity g is unbounded around the origin. Taking into account the competition between the anisotropic potential p(d(x)), the convection term a|∇u|, and the singular nonlinearity g, we establish various existence and nonexistence results.     

Multiple positive and 2-nodal symmetric solutions of elliptic problems with critical nonlinearity

We consider the problem −Δu+a(x)u=f(x)|u|^2*−2u in Ω, u=0 on ∂Ω, where Ω is a bounded smooth domain in RN, N?4, is the critical Sobolev exponent, and a,f are continuous functions. We assume that Ω, a and f are invariant under the action of a group of orthogonal transformations. We obtain multiplicity results which contain information about the symmetry and symmetry-breaking properties of the solutions, and about their nodal domains. Our results include new multiplicity results for the Brezis-Nirenberg problem −Δu+λu=|u|^2*−2u in Ω, u=0 on ∂Ω.     

A priori error estimation for the dual mixed finite element method of the elastodynamic problem in a polygonal domain, I

In this paper we analyze a new dual mixed formulation of the elastodynamic system in polygonal domains. In this formulation the symmetry of the strain tensor is relaxed by the rotation of the displacement. For the time discretization of this new dual mixed formulation, we use an explicit scheme. After the analysis of stability of the fully discrete scheme, L^∞ in time, L² in space a priori error estimates are derived for the approximation of the displacement, the strain, the pressure and the rotation. Numerical experiments confirm our theoretical predictions.     

Solutions concentrating on higher dimensional subsets for singularly perturbed elliptic equations II

We construct spike layered solutions for the semilinear elliptic equation −ε²Δu+V(x)u=K(x)up−1 on a domain Ω⊂RN which may be bounded or unbounded. The solutions concentrate simultaneously on a finite number of m-dimensional spheres in Ω. These spheres accumulate as ε→0 at a prescribed sphere in Ω whose location is determined by the potential functions V,K.     

Positive solutions to logistic type equations with harvesting

We use comparison principles, variational arguments and a truncation method to obtain positive solutions to logistic type equations with harvesting both in RN and in a bounded domain Ω⊂RN, with N?3, when the carrying capacity of the environment is not constant. By relaxing the growth assumption on the coefficients of the differential equation we derive a new equation which is easily solved. The solution of this new equation is then used to produce a positive solution of our original problem.     

Error estimate of a first-order time discretization scheme for the geodynamo equations

In this paper, we analyze a first-order time discretization scheme for a nonlinear geodynamo model and carry out the convergence analysis of this numerical scheme. It is concluded that our numerical scheme converges with first-order accuracy in the sense of L²$L^2$-norm with respect to the velocity field u$\mathit{u}$ and the magnetic field B$\mathit{B}$ and with half-order accuracy in time for the total kinematic pressure P.     

Boundary behavior of large solutions to semilinear elliptic equations with nonlinear gradient terms

In this paper, we study the boundary behavior of solutions to boundary blow-up elliptic problems , where Ω is a bounded domain with smooth boundary in R^N, q>0, , which is positive in Ω and may be vanishing on the boundary and rapidly varying near the boundary, and f is rapidly varying or normalized regularly varying at infinity.