Variational methods are very powerful techniques in nonlinear analysis and are extensively used in many disciplines of pure and applied mathematics (including ordinary and partial differential equations, mathematical physics, gauge theory, and geometrical analysis).In our first chapter, we gather the basic notions and fundamental theorems that will be applied throughout the chapters. While many of these items are easily available in the literature, we gather them here both for the convenience of the reader and for the purpose of making this volume somewhat self-contained. Subsequent chapters deal with how variational methods can be used in fourth-order problems, Kirchhoff problems, nonlinear field problems, gradient systems, and variable exponent problems. A very extensive bibliography is also included.

Semilinear elliptic equations are of fundamental importance for the study of geometry, physics, mechanics, engineering and life sciences. The variational approach to these equations has experienced spectacular success in recent years, reaching a high level of complexity and refinement, with a multitude of applications. Additionally, some of the simplest variational methods are evolving as classical tools in the field of nonlinear differential equations. This book is an introduction to variational methods and their applications to semilinear elliptic problems. Providing a comprehensive overview on the subject, this book will support both student and teacher engaged in a first course in nonlinear elliptic equations. The material is introduced gradually, and in some cases redundancy is added to stress the fundamental steps in theory-building. Topics include differential calculus for functionals, linear theory, and existence theorems by minimization techniques and min-max procedures. Requiring a basic knowledge of Analysis, Functional Analysis and the most common function spaces, such as Lebesgue and Sobolev spaces, this book will be of primary use to graduate students based in the field of nonlinear partial differential equations. It will also serve as valuable reading for final year undergraduates seeking to learn about basic working tools from variational methods and the management of certain types of nonlinear problems.

Variational methods and their generalizations have been verified to be useful tools in proving the existence of solutions to a variety of boundary value problems for ordinary, impulsive, and partial differential equations as well as for difference equations. In this monograph, we look at how variational methods can be used in all these settings. In our first chapter, we gather the basic notions and fundamental theorems that will be applied in the remainder of this monograph. While many of these items are easily available in the literature, we gather them here both for the convenience of the reader and for the purpose of making this volume somewhat self-contained. Subsequent chapters deal with the Sturm-Liouville problems, multi-point boundary value problems, problems with impulses, partial differential equations, and difference equations. An extensive bibliography is also included.

This book reflects a significant part of authors' research activity dur ing the last ten years. The present monograph is constructed on the results obtained by the authors through their direct cooperation or due to the authors separately or in cooperation with other mathematicians. All these results fit in a unitary scheme giving the structure of this work. The book is mainly addressed to researchers and scholars in Pure and Applied Mathematics, Mechanics, Physics and Engineering. We are greatly indebted to Viorica Venera Motreanu for the careful reading of the manuscript and helpful comments on important issues. We are also grateful to our Editors of Kluwer Academic Publishers for their professional assistance. Our deepest thanks go to our numerous scientific collaborators and friends, whose work was so important for us. D. Motreanu and V. Radulescu IX Introduction The present monograph is based on original results obtained by the authors in the last decade. This book provides a comprehensive expo sition of some modern topics in nonlinear analysis with applications to the study of several classes of boundary value problems. Our framework includes multivalued elliptic problems with discontinuities, variational inequalities, hemivariational inequalities and evolution problems. The treatment relies on variational methods, monotonicity principles, topo logical arguments and optimization techniques. Excepting Sections 1 and 3 in Chapter 1 and Sections 1 and 3 in Chapter 2, the material is new in comparison with any other book, representing research topics where the authors contributed. The outline of our work is the following.

The authors give a treatment of the theory of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that is excellent for a first course at the graduate level as well as for individual study. The reader will find it to be a captivating introduction with a number of non-routine exercises dispersed throughout the book.The authors begin with a study of initial value problems for systems of differential equations including the Picard and Peano existence theorems. The continuability of solutions, their continuous dependence on initial conditions, and their continuous dependence with respect to parameters are presented in detail. This is followed by a discussion of the differentiability of solutions with respect to initial conditions and with respect to parameters. Comparison results and differential inequalities are included as well.Linear systems of differential equations are treated in detail as is appropriate for a study of ODEs at this level. Just the right amount of basic properties of matrices are introduced to facilitate the observation of matrix systems and especially those with constant coefficients. Floquet theory for linear periodic systems is presented and used to analyze nonhomogeneous linear systems.Stability theory of first order and vector linear systems are considered. The relationships between stability of solutions, uniform stability, asymptotic stability, uniformly asymptotic stability, and strong stability are examined and illustrated with examples as is the stability of vector linear systems. The book concludes with a chapter on perturbed systems of ODEs.

Hilbert's talk at the second International Congress of 1900 in Paris marked the beginning of a new era in the calculus of variations. A development began which, within a few decades, brought tremendous success, highlighted by the 1929 theorem of Ljusternik and Schnirelman on the existence of three distinct prime closed geodesics on any compact surface of genus zero, and the 1930/31 solution of Plateau's problem by Douglas and Radò. The book gives a concise introduction to variational methods and presents an overview of areas of current research in this field. This new edition has been substantially enlarged, a new chapter on the Yamabe problem has been added and the references have been updated. All topics are illustrated by carefully chosen examples, representing the current state of the art in their field.

The limit-point/limit-circle problem had its beginnings more than 100 years ago with the publication of Hermann Weyl's classic paper in Mathematische Annalen in 1910 on linear differential equations. This concept was extended to second-order nonlinear equations in the late 1970's and later, to higher order nonlinear equations. This monograph traces the development of what is known as the strong nonlinear limit-point and limit-circle properties of solutions. In addition to bringing together all such results into one place, some new directions that the study has taken as well as some open problems for future research are indicated.

The authors give a systematic introduction to boundary value problems (BVPs) for ordinary differential equations. The book is a graduate level text and good to use for individual study. With the relaxed style of writing, the reader will find it to be an enticing invitation to join this important area of mathematical research. Starting with the basics of boundary value problems for ordinary differential equations, linear equations and the construction of Green's functions are presented clearly.A discussion of the important question of the existence of solutions to both linear and nonlinear problems plays a central role in this volume and this includes solution matching and the comparison of eigenvalues.The important and very active research area on existence and multiplicity of positive solutions is treated in detail. The last chapter is devoted to nodal solutions for BVPs with separated boundary conditions as well as for non-local problems.While this Volume II complements , it can be used as a stand-alone work.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview on different types of higher order boundary value problems defined on the half-line or on the real line (Sturm-Liouville and Lidstone types, impulsive, functional and problems defined by Hammerstein integral equations). It also includes classical and new methods and techniques to deal with the lack of compactness of the related operators.The reader will find a selection of original and recent results in this field, conditions to obtain solutions with particular qualitative properties, such as homoclinic and heteroclinic solutions and its relation with the solutions of Lidstone problems on all the real line.Each chapter contains applications to real phenomena, to classical equations or problems, with a common denominator: they are defined on unbounded intervals and the existing results in the literature are scarce or proven only numerically in discrete cases.The last part features some higher order functional problems, which generalize the classical two-point or multi-point boundary conditions, to more comprehensive data where an overall behavior of the unknown functions and their derivatives is involved.

This volume is a collection of articles presented at the Workshop for Nonlinear Analysis held in João Pessoa, Brazil, in September 2012. The influence of Bernhard Ruf, to whom this volume is dedicated on the occasion of his 60th birthday, is perceptible throughout the collection by the choice of themes and techniques. The many contributors consider modern topics in the calculus of variations, topological methods and regularity analysis, together with novel applications of partial differential equations. In keeping with the tradition of the workshop, emphasis is given to elliptic operators inserted in different contexts, both theoretical and applied. Topics include semi-linear and fully nonlinear equations and systems with different nonlinearities, at sub- and supercritical exponents, with spectral interactions of Ambrosetti-Prodi type. Also treated are analytic aspects as well as applications such as diffusion problems in mathematical genetics and finance and evolution equations related to electromechanical devices.