A sharper uncertainty principle

The work strengthens the result established by L. Cohen on uncertainty principle involving phase derivative. We propose stronger uncertainty principles not only in the classical setting for Fourier transform, but also for self-adjoint operators. We also deduce the conditions that give rise to the equal relation of the uncertainty principle. Examples are provided to show that the new uncertainty principle is truly sharper than the existing ones in literature.     

General preservers of quasi-commutativity on self-adjoint operators

Let H be a separable Hilbert space and Bsa(H) the set of all bounded linear self-adjoint operators. We say that A,B∈Bsa(H) quasi-commute if there exists a nonzero ξ∈C such that AB=ξBA. Bijective maps on Bsa(H) which preserve quasi-commutativity in both directions are classified.     

On Chebyshev functions and Klee functions

Associated to a lower semicontinuous function, one can define its proximal mapping and farthest mapping. The function is called Chebyshev (Klee) if its proximal mapping (farthest mapping) is single-valued everywhere. We show that the function f is 1/λ-hypoconvex if its proximal mapping Pλf is single-valued. When the function f is bounded below, and Pλf is single-valued for every λ>0, the function must be convex. Similarly, we show that the function f is 1/μ-strongly convex if the farthest mapping Qμf is single-valued. When the function is the indicator function of a set, this recovers the well-known Chebyshev problem and Klee problem in Rn. We also give an example illustrating that a continuous proximal mapping (farthest mapping) needs not be locally Lipschitz, which answers one open question by Hare and Poliquin.     

Nonlinear programming without a penalty function or a filter

A new method is introduced for solving equality constrained nonlinear optimization problems. This method does not use a penalty function, nor a filter, and yet can be proved to be globally convergent to first-order stationary points. It uses different trust-regions to cope with the nonlinearities of the objective function and the constraints, and allows inexact SQP steps that do not lie exactly in the nullspace of the local Jacobian. Preliminary numerical experiments on CUTEr problems indicate that the method performs well.      

Solving variational inequalities by a modified projection method with an effective step-size

In this paper, we propose a new projection method for the solution of variational inequality problems. The method is simple, which uses only function evaluations and projections onto the feasible set. We adopt a new step-size rule and a new search direction in the new method. Under the mild conditions, we prove the proposed method is globally convergent. Preliminary numerical results are reported.     

On surface tension modelling using the level set method

The paper describes and compares the performance of two options for numerically representing the surface tension force in combination with the level set interface‐tracking method. In both models, the surface tension is represented as a body force, concentrated near the interface, but the technical implementation is different: the first model is based on a traditional level set approach in which the force is distributed in a band around the interface using a regularized delta function, whereas in the second, the force is partly distributed in a band around the interface and partly localized to the actual computational cells containing the interface. A comparative study, involving analysis of several two‐phase flows with moving interfaces, shows that in general the two surface tension models produce results of similar accuracy. However, in the particular case of merging and pinching‐off of interfaces, the traditional level set model of surface tension produces an error that results in non‐converging solutions for film‐like interfaces (i.e. ones involving large contact areas). In contrast, the second model, based on the localized representation of the surface tension force, displays consistent first‐order convergence. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A remark on the definitions of viscosity solutions for the integro-differential equations with Lévy operators

We prove the equivalence of the three different definitions of the viscosity solution for the integro-differential equation with the Lévy operator. The two of the definitions are known in the preceding works of the author and the others, and the last one is new. A construction of a sequence of the approximating test functions to the subsolution (or the supersolution) is indispensable for the proof, and it is done explicitly in the paper.     

Spectrum of a homogeneous graph

We describe the spectrum of the Laplacian for a homogeneous graph acted on by a discrete group. This follows from a more general result which describes the spectrum of a convolution operator on a homogeneous space of a locally compact group. We also prove a version of Harnack inequality for a Schrödinger operator on an invariant homogeneous graph.     

Schrödinger operators and associated hyperbolic pencils

For a large class of Schrödinger operators, we introduce the hyperbolic quadratic pencils by making the coupling constant dependent on the energy in the very special way. For these pencils, many problems of scattering theory are significantly easier to study. Then, we give some applications to the original Schrödinger operators including one-dimensional Schrödinger operators with L²-operator-valued potentials, multidimensional Schrödinger operators with slowly decaying potentials.