Small-radius tubular structures have attracted considerable attention in the last few years, and are frequently used in different areas such as Mathematical Physics, Spectral Geometry and Global Analysis. In this monograph, we analyse Laplace-like operators on thin tubular structures ("graph-like spaces''), and their natural limits on metric graphs. In particular, we explore norm resolvent convergence, convergence of the spectra and resonances. Since the underlying spaces in the thin radius limit change, and become singular in the limit, we develop new tools such as norm convergence of operators acting in different Hilbert spaces, an extension of the concept of boundary triples to partial differential operators, and an abstract definition of resonances via boundary triples. These tools are formulated in an abstract framework, independent of the original problem of graph-like spaces, so that they can be applied in many other situations where the spaces are perturbed.

North-Holland Series in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Volume 6: Introduction to Spectral Theory in Hilbert Space focuses on the mechanics, principles, and approaches involved in spectral theory in Hilbert space. The publication first elaborates on the concept and specific geometry of Hilbert space and bounded linear operators. Discussions focus on projection and adjoint operators, bilinear forms, bounded linear mappings, isomorphisms, orthogonal subspaces, base, subspaces, finite dimensional Euclidean space, and normed linear spaces. The text then takes a look at the general theory of linear operators and spectral analysis of compact linear operators, including spectral decomposition of a compact selfadjoint operator, weakly convergent sequences, spectrum of a compact linear operator, and eigenvalues of a linear operator. The manuscript ponders on the spectral analysis of bounded linear operators and unbounded selfadjoint operators. Topics include spectral decomposition of an unbounded selfadjoint operator and bounded normal operator, functions of a unitary operator, step functions of a bounded selfadjoint operator, polynomials in a bounded operator, and order relation for bounded selfadjoint operators. The publication is a valuable source of data for mathematicians and researchers interested in spectral theory in Hilbert space.

The interplay of geometry, spectral theory and stochastics has a long and fruitful history, and is the driving force behind many developments in modern mathematics. Bringing together contributions from a 2017 conference at the University of Potsdam, this volume focuses on global effects of local properties. Exploring the similarities and differences between the discrete and the continuous settings is of great interest to both researchers and graduate students in geometric analysis. The range of survey articles presented in this volume give an expository overview of various topics, including curvature, the effects of geometry on the spectrum, geometric group theory, and spectral theory of Laplacian and Schrödinger operators. Also included are shorter articles focusing on specific techniques and problems, allowing the reader to get to the heart of several key topics.

The volume collects papers from talks given at QMath11 ? Mathematical Results in Quantum Physics, which was held in Hradec Kr lov‚, September 2010. These papers bring new and interesting results in quantum mechanics and information, quantum field theory, random systems, quantum chaos, as well as in the physics of social systems. Part of the contribution is dedicated to Ari Laptev on the occasion of his 60th birthday, in recognition of his mathematical results and his service to the community. The QMath conference series has played an important role in mathematical physics for more than two decades, typically attracting many of the best results achieved in the last three-year period, and the meeting in Hradec Kr lov‚ was no exception.

The volume collects papers from talks given at QMath11 — Mathematical Results in Quantum Physics, which was held in Hradec Králové, September 2010. These papers bring new and interesting results in quantum mechanics and information, quantum field theory, random systems, quantum chaos, as well as in the physics of social systems. Part of the contribution is dedicated to Ari Laptev on the occasion of his 60th birthday, in recognition of his mathematical results and his service to the community. The QMath conference series has played an important role in mathematical physics for more than two decades, typically attracting many of the best results achieved in the last three-year period, and the meeting in Hradec Králové was no exception.

Dynamical models on graphs or random graphs are increasingly used in applied sciences as mathematical tools to study complex systems whose exact structure is too complicated to be known in detail. Besides its importance in applied sciences, the field is increasingly attracting the interest of mathematicians and theoretical physicists also because of the fundamental phenomena (synchronization, phase transitions etc.) that can be studied in the relatively simple framework of dynamical models of random graphs. This volume was developed from the Mathematical Technology of Networks conference held in Bielefeld, Germany in December 2013. The conference was designed to bring together functional analysts, mathematical physicists, and experts in dynamical systems. The contributors to this volume explore the interplay between theoretical and applied aspects of discrete and continuous graphs. Their work helps to close the gap between different avenues of research on graphs, including metric graphs and ramified structures.

This book presents novel results by participants of the conference “Control theory of infinite-dimensional systems” that took place in January 2018 at the FernUniversität in Hagen. Topics include well-posedness, controllability, optimal control problems as well as stability of linear and nonlinear systems, and are covered by world-leading experts in these areas. A distinguishing feature of the contributions in this volume is the particular combination of researchers from different fields in mathematics working in an interdisciplinary fashion on joint projects in mathematical system theory. More explicitly, the fields of partial differential equations, semigroup theory, mathematical physics, graph and network theory as well as numerical analysis are all well-represented.

This open access book gives a systematic introduction into the spectral theory of differential operators on metric graphs. Main focus is on the fundamental relations between the spectrum and the geometry of the underlying graph. The book has two central themes: the trace formula and inverse problems. The trace formula is relating the spectrum to the set of periodic orbits and is comparable to the celebrated Selberg and Chazarain-Duistermaat-Guillemin-Melrose trace formulas. Unexpectedly this formula allows one to construct non-trivial crystalline measures and Fourier quasicrystals solving one of the long-standing problems in Fourier analysis. The remarkable story of this mathematical odyssey is presented in the first part of the book. To solve the inverse problem for Schrödinger operators on metric graphs the magnetic boundary control method is introduced. Spectral data depending on the magnetic flux allow one to solve the inverse problem in full generality, this means to reconstruct not only the potential on a given graph, but also the underlying graph itself and the vertex conditions. The book provides an excellent example of recent studies where the interplay between different fields like operator theory, algebraic geometry and number theory, leads to unexpected and sound mathematical results. The book is thought as a graduate course book where every chapter is suitable for a separate lecture and includes problems for home studies. Numerous illuminating examples make it easier to understand new concepts and develop the necessary intuition for further studies.

This Special Issue focuses on recent progress in a new area of mathematical physics and applied analysis, namely, on nonlinear partial differential equations on metric graphs and branched networks. Graphs represent a system of edges connected at one or more branching points (vertices). The connection rule determines the graph topology. When the edges can be assigned a length and the wave functions on the edges are defined in metric spaces, the graph is called a metric graph. Evolution equations on metric graphs have attracted much attention as effective tools for the modeling of particle and wave dynamics in branched structures and networks. Since branched structures and networks appear in different areas of contemporary physics with many applications in electronics, biology, material science, and nanotechnology, the development of effective modeling tools is important for the many practical problems arising in these areas. The list of important problems includes searches for standing waves, exploring of their properties (e.g., stability and asymptotic behavior), and scattering dynamics. This Special Issue is a representative sample of the works devoted to the solutions of these and other problems.

A ``quantum graph'' is a graph considered as a one-dimensional complex and equipped with a differential operator (``Hamiltonian''). Quantum graphs arise naturally as simplified models in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering when one considers propagation of waves of various nature through a quasi-one-dimensional (e.g., ``meso-'' or ``nano-scale'') system that looks like a thin neighborhood of a graph. Works that currently would be classified as discussing quantum graphs have been appearing since at least the 1930s, and since then, quantum graphs techniques have been applied successfully in various areas of mathematical physics, mathematics in general and its applications. One can mention, for instance, dynamical systems theory, control theory, quantum chaos, Anderson localization, microelectronics, photonic crystals, physical chemistry, nano-sciences, superconductivity theory, etc. Quantum graphs present many non-trivial mathematical challenges, which makes them dear to a mathematician's heart. Work on quantum graphs has brought together tools and intuition coming from graph theory, combinatorics, mathematical physics, PDEs, and spectral theory. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the topic, collecting the main notions and techniques. It also contains a survey of the current state of the quantum graph research and applications.