This paper proves the existence of solutions to the spherical piston problem for isentropic gas dynamics with equation of state p(p) = Apγ, γ≧ 1. The method of analysis is to replace the usual viscosity ε with εt, thus permitting a search for self-similar viscous limits. The main result of the paper is that self-similar viscous limits are proved to exist and converge to a solution to the piston problem when

N = 1, 2, 3 space dimensions.

We compute the heat content asymptotics of odd dimensional hemispheres in closed form.

We study variational problems for the functional F(u) = ∫Ω f(x, u(x), Lu(x)) dx where u∈uo + V, with Vbeing any closed linear subspace of W2.P(Ω) containing W2.p.0(Ω), Ω is a bounded open set, p > 1, L is a differential operator of second order. We determine the greatest lower semicontinuous function majorised by F for the weak topology of W2.p, for its sequential version if f satisfies no coercivity assumption, showing that in both cases the relaxed functional is expressed in terms of the function ξ↦ f**(x, u, ξ). Finally, an existence result in case f (not necessarily convex) depending only on the Laplacian, is given

We explore some necessary conditions for quasiconvexity in an attempt to show that rank-one convexity does not imply quasiconvexity when the target space for deformations is two- dimensional. An interesting construction is presented, showing how rank-one directions may fit with each other, making the task harder than in higher dimensions.

In this paper, we deal with the dynamics of material interfaces such as solid–liquid, grain or antiphase boundaries. We concentrate on the situation in which these internal surfaces separate three regions in the material with different physical attributes (e.g. grain boundaries in a polycrystal). The basic two-dimensional model proposes that the motion of an interface Гij between regions i and j (i, j = 1, 2, 3, i ≠ j) is governed by the equation

Here Vij, kij, μij and fij denote, respectively, the normal velocity, the curvature, the mobility and the surface tension of the interface and the numbers Fij stand for the (constant) difference in bulk energies. At the point where the three phases coexist, local equilibrium requires that

In case the material constants fij are small, and ε ≪ 1, previous analyses based on the parabolic nature of the equations (0.1) do not provide good qualitative information on the behaviour of solutions. In this case, it is more appropriate to consider the singular case with fij = 0. It turns out that this problem, (0.1) with fij = 0, admits infinitely many solutions. Here, we present results that strongly suggest that, in all cases, a unique solution—‘the vanishing surface tension (VST) solution’—is selected by letting ε→0. Indeed, a formal analysis of this limiting process motivates us to introduce the concept of weak viscosity solution for the problem with ε = 0. As we show, this weak solution is unique and is therefore expected to coincide with the VST solution. To support this statement, we present a perturbation analysis and a construction of self-similar solutions; a rigorous convergence result is established in the case of symmetric configurations. Finally, we use the weak formulation to write down a catalogue of solutions showing that, in several cases of physical relevance, the VST solution differs from results proposed previously.

A new fixed-point theorem is presented for weakly condensing operators. Existence is then established for the nonlinear abstract operator y = Ny.

We give an estimate of the time needed for a phase transition to be completed in the Stefan problem. Our method is to compare the density of the diffusion process associated with the Stefan problem, with that of Brownian motion.

We show that an energy decay ∥u(t)∥2 = O(t−µ) for solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations on ℝn, n ≦ 5, implies a decay of the higher order norms, e.g. ∥Dα u(t)∥2 = O(t−µ −|α|/2) and ∥u(t)|∞ = O(t−µ −n/4).

Nonlocal reaction–diffusion equations of the form ut = uxx + F(u, α(u)), where are considered together with Neumann or Dirichlet boundary conditions. One of the main results deals with linearisation at equilibria. It states that, for any given set of complex numbers, one can arrange, choosing the equation properly, that this set is contained in the spectrum of the linearisation. The second main result shows that equations of the above form can undergo a supercritical Hopf bifurcation to an asymptotically stable periodic solution.

The singular limit as one diffusion coefficient approaches zero is considered for travelling wave solutions to a pair f reaction diffusion equations. An explicit criterion determining the sign of the wave speed is obtained. The limit behaviour turns out to be of a different nature for positive and negative wave speed. Different techniques, which may be applicable to a range of examples, are needed in the two cases.

In this paper we discuss C1-linearisations of diffeomorphisms and flows on Banach spaces. Strong foliations of the neighbourhood of the fixed point composed of leaves based on successively larger subspaces (similar to those in [14]) are constructed. Generalised gap conditions which involve the width and separation of vertical bands containing the spectrum of a linear operator are imposed to achieve maximal smoothness. The method of proof generalises that of Hartman and of Mora and Solá-Morales. Our theorems apply to weakly coupled systems of damped wave and beam equations.

In this paper we study the existence of least energy solutions to subcritical semilinear elliptic equations of the form

where Ω is an unbounded domain in RN and f is a C1 function, with appropriate superlinear growth. We state general conditions on the domain Ω so that the associated functional has a nontrivial critical point, thus yielding a solution to the equation. Asymptotic results for domains stretched in one direction are also provided.

The aim of this paper is to characterise sets of anisotropic weighted capacity zero. In this we generalise previous known results for the isotropic equivalent. A particular case of this zero capacity set is used to generalise removable singularity results for weak solutions of degenerate quasilinear parabolic equations and for their elliptic equivalent when its structure is still essentially isotropic, with the anisotropy confined to the mixed norms of the generalised Lebesgue spaces involved.

Let X be a Banach space or a manifold and G a compact Lie group acting on X. We study G-equivariant (semi)flows on X in the context of forced symmetry breaking. After applying small symmetry breaking perturbations, certain generic invariant manifolds of the above flows persist slightly changed. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of heteroclinic cycles on the perturbed manifolds. Applications are given for the case G = SO(3).

We study the self-similar solutions of the quasilinear parabolic equation

We show that there is an exponent

such that if σ> then the equation admits a countable set {uk(x, t)} of self-similar blow-up solutions. These solutions have the form

where T> 0 is a finite blow-up time, θ(ξ) solves a nonlinear ODE and each function uk(x, t) is nonconstant in a neighbourhood of the origin and has exactly k maxima and minima for x ≧ 0. There is a further critical exponent σ = ф such that if σ > ф there is a second set of self-similar solutions which are constant (in x) in a neighbourhood of the origin. We conjecture (and provide formal arguments and numerical evidence for) the existence of an infinite sequence σk→σ∞ of critical values, such that σ1 = 0 and uk exists only in the range σ>σk (when σ> 0 the equation has no nontrivial self-similar solutions). The proof of existence when σ>σ∞(σ>ф) is obtained by a combination of comparison and dynamical systems arguments and relates the existence of the self-similar solutions to a homoclinic bifurcation in an appropriate phase-space.

For the one-dimensional Dirac operator, examples of electrostatic potentials with decay behaviour arbitrarily close to Coulomb decay are constructed for which the operator has a prescribed set of eigenvalues dense in the whole or part of its essential spectrum. A simple proof that the essential spectrum of one-dimensional Dirac operators with electrostatic potentials is never empty is given in the appendix.