Global stability of the Armstrong-Frederick model with periodic biaxial inputs

The paper is concerned with the study of plasticity models described by differential equations with stop and play operators. We suggest sufficient conditions for the global stability of a unique periodic solution for the scalar models and for the vector models with biaxial inputs of a particular form, namely the sum of a uniaxial function and a constant term. For another class of simple biaxial inputs, we present an example of the existence of unstable periodic solutions. The paper was written during the research stay of D. Rachinskii at the Technical University Munich supported by the research fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. His work was partially supported by the Russian Science Support Foundation, Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant No. 01-01-00146, 03-01-00258), and the Grants of the President of Russia (Grant No. MD-87.2003.01, NS-1532.2003.1). The support is gratefully acknowledged.     

On the density of the space of continuous and uniformly continuous functions

For X a metrizable space and (Y,ρ) a metric space, with Y pathwise connected, we compute the density of (C(X,(Y,ρ)),σ)—the space of all continuous functions from X to (Y,ρ), endowed with the supremum metric σ. Also, for (X,d) a metric space and (Y,‖⋅‖) a normed space, we compute the density of (UC((X,d),(Y,ρ)),σ) (the space of all uniformly continuous functions from (X,d) to (Y,ρ), where ρ is the metric induced on Y by ‖⋅‖). We also prove that the latter result extends only partially to the case where (Y,ρ) is an arbitrary pathwise connected metric space.To carry such an investigation out, the notions of generalized compact and generalized totally bounded metric space, introduced by the author and A. Barbati in a former paper, turn out to play a crucial rôle. Moreover, we show that the first-mentioned concept provides a precise characterization of those metrizable spaces which attain their extent.     

Syntactic characterization of closure under connected limits

Summary We give a syntactic characterization of (finitary) theories whose categories of models are closed under the formation of connected limits (respectively the formation of pullbacks and substructures) in the category of all structures. They are also those theories whose consistent extensions by new atomic facts admit in each component an initial structure (respectively an initial term structure), and also thoseT for whichM(T) is locally finitely multi-presentable in a canonical way. We also show that these two properties of theories are nonuniform.     

Positions of convex bodies associated to extremal problems and isotropic measures

We show that there are close relations between extremal problems in dual Brunn-Minkowski theory and isotropic-type properties for some Borel measures on the sphere. The methods we use allow us to obtain similar results in the context of Firey-Brunn-Minkowski theory. We also study reverse inequalities for dual mixed volumes which are related with classical positions, such as ?-position or isotropic position.     

Asymptotic description of Dirac mass formation in kinetic equations for quantum particles

In this paper, the detailed asymptotic behaviour of the solutions of a kinetic equation for quantum particles is studied. It is shown that this behaviour is sensitive not only to the total mass of the initial data but also to its precise behaviour near the origin. In some cases, solutions develop a Dirac mass at the origin for long times in a self-similar manner that is analysed in detail.     

Kinetic Models for Chemotaxis and their Drift-Diffusion Limits

Kinetic models for chemotaxis, nonlinearly coupled to a Poisson equation for the chemo-attractant density, are considered. Under suitable assumptions on the turning kernel (including models introduced by Othmer, Dunbar and Alt), convergence in the macroscopic limit to a drift-diffusion model is proven. The drift-diffusion models derived in this way include the classical Keller-Segel model. Furthermore, sufficient conditions for kinetic models are given such that finite-time-blow-up does not occur. Examples are given satisfying these conditions, whereas the macroscopic limit problem is known to exhibit finite-time-blow-up. The main analytical tools are entropy techniques for the macroscopic limit as well as results from potential theory for the control of the chemo-attractant density.Present address: Centro de Matemática e Aplicações Fundamentais, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Gama Pinto 2, 1649-003, Lisboa, Portugal     

On the Long-Time Behavior of the Quantum Fokker-Planck Equation

We analyze the long-time behavior of transport equations for a class of dissipative quantum systems with Fokker-planck type diffusion operator, subject to confining potentials of harmonic oscillator type. We establish the existence and uniqueness of a non-equilibrium steady state for the corresponding dynamics. Further, using a (classical) convex Sobolev inequality, we prove an optimal exponential rate of decay towards this state and additionally give precise dispersion estimates in those cases, where no stationary state exists.