Discusses problems in the distribution theory of probability.

Approach your problems from the right end It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is and begin with the answers. Then one day, that they can't see the problem. perhaps you will find the final question. G. K. Chesterton. The Scandal of Father 'The Hermit Clad in Crane Feathers' in R Brown 'The point of a Pin'. van Gulik's The Chinese Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the "tree" of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite often in fact, that branches which were thought to be completely disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non trivially) in regional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with physics; the Minkowsky lemma, coding theory and the structure of water meet one another in packing and covering theory; quantum fields, crystal defects and mathematical programming profit from homotopy theory; Lie algebras are relevant to filtering; and prediction and electrical engineering can use Stein spaces. And in addition to this there are such new emerging subdisciplines as "experimental mathematics", "CFD", "completely integrable systems", "chaos, synergetics and large-scale order", which are almost impossible to fit into the existing classification schemes. They draw upon widely different sections of mathematics.

It is well known that contemporary mathematics includes many disci plines. Among them the most important are: set theory, algebra, topology, geometry, functional analysis, probability theory, the theory of differential equations and some others. Furthermore, every mathematical discipline consists of several large sections in which specific problems are investigated and the corresponding technique is developed. For example, in general topology we have the following extensive chap ters: the theory of compact extensions of topological spaces, the theory of continuous mappings, cardinal-valued characteristics of topological spaces, the theory of set-valued (multi-valued) mappings, etc. Modern algebra is featured by the following domains: linear algebra, group theory, the theory of rings, universal algebras, lattice theory, category theory, and so on. Concerning modern probability theory, we can easily see that the clas sification of its domains is much more extensive: measure theory on ab stract spaces, Borel and cylindrical measures in infinite-dimensional vector spaces, classical limit theorems, ergodic theory, general stochastic processes, Markov processes, stochastical equations, mathematical statistics, informa tion theory and many others.

This book gives a systematic exposition of the modern theory of Gaussian measures. It presents with complete and detailed proofs fundamental facts about finite and infinite dimensional Gaussian distributions. Covered topics include linear properties, convexity, linear and nonlinear transformations, and applications to Gaussian and diffusion processes. Suitable for use as a graduate text and/or a reference work, this volume contains many examples, exercises, and an extensive bibliography. It brings together many results that have not appeared previously in book form.

These proceedings contain both general expository papers and research announcements in several active areas of probability and statistics. A large range of topics is covered from theory (Sobolev inequalities and heat semigroup, Brownian motions, white noise analysis, geometrical structure of statistical experiments) to applications (simulated annealing, ARMA models).

An integrated package of powerful probabilistic tools and key applications in modern mathematical data science.

A pedagogical introduction to the key ideas and theoretical foundation of optimal mass transport for a graduate course or self-study.

This book’s title, Nonsmooth Mechanics and Analysis, refers to a major domain of mechanics, particularly those initiated by the works of Jean Jacques Moreau. Nonsmooth mechanics concerns mechanical situations with possible nondifferentiable relationships, eventually discontinuous, as unilateral contact, dry friction, collisions, plasticity, damage, and phase transition. The basis of the approach consists in dealing with such problems without resorting to any regularization process. Indeed, the nonsmoothness is due to simplified mechanical modeling; a more sophisticated model would require too large a number of variables, and sometimes the mechanical information is not available via experimental investigations. Therefore, the mathematical formulation becomes nonsmooth; regularizing would only be a trick of arithmetic without any physical justification. Nonsmooth analysis was developed, especially in Montpellier, to provide specific theoretical and numerical tools to deal with nonsmoothness. It is important not only in mechanics but also in physics, robotics, and economics. Audience This book is intended for researchers in mathematics and mechanics.

The contributions collected in this volume exhibit the increasingly wide spectrum of applications of abstract order theory in analysis and show the possibilities of order-theoretical argumentation. The following areas are discussed: potential theory, partial differential operators of second order, Schrodinger operators, theory of convexity, one-parameter semigroups, Lie algebras, Markov processes, operator-algebras, noncommutative integration and geometry of Banach spaces.

The book is devoted to the theory of gradient flows in the general framework of metric spaces, and in the more specific setting of the space of probability measures, which provide a surprising link between optimal transportation theory and many evolutionary PDE's related to (non)linear diffusion. Particular emphasis is given to the convergence of the implicit time discretization method and to the error estimates for this discretization, extending the well established theory in Hilbert spaces. The book is split in two main parts that can be read independently of each other.