A hierarchy of Sturm–Liouville problems

Sturm–Liouville equations will be considered where the boundary conditions depend rationally on the eigenvalue parameter. Such problems apply to a variety of engineering situations, for example to the stability of rotating axles. Classesof these problems will be isolated with a rather rich spectral structure, for example oscillation, comparison and completeness properties analogous to thoseof the ‘usual’ Sturm–Liouville problem which has constant boundary conditions.In fact it will be shown how these classes can be converted into each other, andinto the ‘usual’ Sturm–Liouville problem, by means of transformations preserving all but finitely many eigenvalues. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lagrangian flows: The dynamics of globally minimizing orbits

The objective of this note is to present some results, to be proved in a forthcoming paper, about certain special solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations on closed manifolds. Our main results extend to time dependent periodic Lagrangians with minor modifications.We have chosen the autonomous case because this formally simpler framework allows to reach more easily the core of our concepts and results. Moreover the autonomous case exhibits certain special features involving the energy as a first integral that deserve special attention. They are closely related to the link found by Carneiro [C] between the energy and Mather's action function [Ma].Reprinted by permission of Addison Wesley Longman Ltd.     

Diffusing particles with electrostatic repulsion

Summary. We study a diffusion model of an interacting particles system with general drift and diffusion coefficients, and electrostatic inter-particles repulsion. More precisely, the finite particle system is shown to be well defined thanks to recent results on multivalued stochastic differential equations (see [2]), and then we consider the behaviour of this system when the number of particles goes to infinity (through the empirical measure process). In the particular case of affine drift and constant diffusion coefficient, we prove that a limiting measure-valued process exists and is the unique solution of a deterministic PDE. Our treatment of the convergence problem (as ) is partly similar to that of T. Chan [3] and L.C.G. Rogers - Z. Shi [5], except we consider here a more general case allowing collisions between particles, which leads to a second-order limiting PDE. Received: 5 August 1996 / In revised form: 17 October 1996     

Twistor Geometry for Hyperkähler Metrics on Complex Adjoint Orbits

We study the hyperkähler geometry of complex adjoint orbits from the point of view of twistor theory. We introduce, for complex semisimple adjoint orbits, the associated spectral curve and construct the twistor space as a union of certain regular adjoint orbits; we also exhibit the family of twistor lines. Furthermore, we show how our methods may be applied for describing hyperkähler metrics associated to more general spectral curves. In particular, we give an algebraic characterisation of the twistor lines.     

Unreasonable effectiveness of symmetry in physics

We prove that in some reasonable sense, every possible physical law can be reformulated in terms of symmetries. This result explains the well-known success of the group-theoretic approach in physics.     

The Interaction of Shocks with Dispersive Waves II. Incompressible-Integrable Limit

This is the second in a two-part series of articles in which we analyze a system similar in structure to the well-known Zakharov equations from weak plasma turbulence theory, but with a nonlinear conservation equation allowing finite time shock formation. In this article we analyze the incompressible limit in which the shock speed is large compared to the underlying group velocity of the dispersive wave (a situation typically encountered in applications). After presenting some exact solutions of the full system, a multiscale perturbation method is used to resolve several basic wave interactions. The analysis breaks down into two categories: the nonlinear limit and the linear limit, corresponding to the form of the equations when the group velocity to shock speed ratio, denoted by ε, is zero. The former case is an integrable limit in which the model reduces to the cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation governing the dispersive wave envelope. We focus on the interaction of a “fast” shock wave and a single hump soliton. In the latter case, the ε=0 problem reduces to the linear Schrödinger equation, and the focus is on a fast shock interacting with a dispersive wave whose amplitude is cusped and exponentially decaying. To motivate the time scales and structure of the shock-dispersive wave interactions at lowest orders, we first analyze a simpler system of ordinary differential equations structurally similar to the original system. Then we return to the fully coupled partial differential equations and develop a multiscale asymptotic method to derive the effective leading-order shock equations and the leading-order modulation equations governing the phase and amplitude of the dispersive wave envelope. The leading-order interaction equations admit a fairly complete analysis based on characteristic methods. Conditions are derived in which: (a) the shock passes through the soliton, (b) the shock is completely blocked by the soliton, or (c) the shock reverses direction. In the linear limit, a phenomenon is described in which the dispersive wave induces the formation of a second, transient shock front in the rapidly moving hyperbolic wave. In all cases, we can characterize the long-time dynamics of the shock. The influence of the shock on the dispersive wave is manifested, to leading order, in the generalized frequency of the dispersive wave: the fast-time part of the frequency is the shock wave itself. Hence, the frequency undergoes a sudden jump across the shock layer.In the last section, a sequence of numerical experiments depicting some of the interesting interactions predicted by the analysis is performed on the leading-order shock equations.     

Preparation and Eh--pH diagrams of Fe(II)--Fe(III) green rust compounds; hyperfine interaction characteristics and stoichiometry of hydroxy-chloride, -sulphate and -carbonate

Fe(II)--Fe(III) hydroxy-chloride, -sulphate and -carbonate were prepared by oxidation of a ferrous hydroxide precipitate in anion-containing aqueous solutions. The compounds are characterized by monitoring the redox potential E_h and the pH of stochiometric suspension vs time with the appropriate concentration ratios. X-ray diffraction allows us to characterize the crystal structure by distinguishing “green rust one” (GR1) from “green rust two” (GR2). Since green rusts (GRs) are of a pyroaurite-sjögrenite-like structure, i.e., consisting of intercalated foreign anions and water molecules in the interlayers between the brucite-like layers of Fe(OH)₂, their chemical formulae can be determined from the Mössbauer spectra. Three quadrupole doublets are observed: D₁ and D₂ correspond to a ferrous state with isomershift IS of about 1.27 mm s^-1 and quadrupole splittings QS of about 2.85 and 2.60 mm s^-1, respectively, whereas D₃ corresponds to a ferric state with IS and QS of about 0.4 mm s^-1. The hyperfine parameters of these doublets are similar from one green rust to another but their intensity ratios vary considerably. Finally, E_h and pH equilibrium diagrams of the Fe species in the presence of chloride, sulphate and carbonate anions contained within the water solution are drawn and the thermodynamic conditions of existence and degrees of oxidation of green rusts are discussed.     

Universality in some classical Coulomb systems of restricted dimension

Coulomb systems in which the particles interact through thed-dimensional Coulomb potential but are confined in a flat manifold of dimensiond–1 are considered. The actual Coulomb potential acting is defined by particular boundary conditions involving a characteristic macroscopic distanceW in the direction perpendicular to the manifold: either it is periodic of periodW in that direction, or it vanishes on one ideal conductor wall parallel to the manifold at a distanceW from it, or it vanishes on two parallel walls at a distanceW from each other with the manifold equidistant from them. Under the assumptions that classical equilibrium statistical mechanics is applicable and that the system has the macroscopic properties of a conductor, it is shown that the suitably smoothed charge correlation function is universal, and that the free energy and the grand potential have universal dependences onW (universal means independent of the microscopic detail). The casesd=2 are discussed in detail, and the generic results are checked on an exactly solvable model. The cased=3 of a plane parallel to an ideal conductor is also explicitly worked out.Laboratoire associé au Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-URA D0063.