By using a Hilbert space decomposition theorem for two polar cones it is shown that the method of the hypercircle can be extended to determine solutions to best approximation problems involving unilateral constraints. The method is applied to abstract boundary value problems for linear operators involving such constraints.

In this paper the Sturm-Liouville expression τy = −(py′)′ + qy, with complex-valued coefficients is considered, and a number of results concerning the location of the essential spectrum of associated operators are obtained. Some of these are extensions or generalizations of results due to Birman, and Glazman, whilst others are new. These lead to criteria for the non-emptiness of the regularity field of the corresponding minimal operator—a condition which is needed in the theory of J-selfadjoint extensions. A complete determination of the regularity field is made when the equation τy = λ0y has two linearly independent solutions in L2[a,∞) for some complex λ0.

Associated with a Cauchy problem for an eikonal equation is a structure of caustics and wave fronts. The geometrical properties of these structures are of considerable interest and one would like to classify them. The first step in such a programme is to identify those solutions whose structures have certain (structural) stability properties or robustness. These are structures which survive small perturbations of the initial conditions. (It turns out that they also survive small perturbations of the equation.) This problem for caustics has been tackled with considerable success by a number of authors, in particular by Arnold. Here we develop the analogous, but different, theory for wave fronts and give an algebraic characterization of those local solutions of eikonal equations which have stable wave front structures. From this result it is easy to deduce the qualitative form of those stable wave front structures which occur when the propagation occurs in a space of dimension not greater than five. They correspond to Thorn's elementary catastrophes, as demonstrated by Zakalyukin.

The asymptotic expansions of solutions of a class of linear ordinary differential equations of arbitrary order n are investigated for large values of the independent variable z in the complex plane. Solutions are expressed in terms of Mellin-Barnes integrals and their asymptotic expansions are subsequently determined by means of the asymptotic theory of integral functions of the hypergeometric type. Three classes of solutions are considered: (i) solutions whose behaviour is either exponentially large or algebraic for |z|→∞ in different sectors of the z-plane, (ii) solutions which are even and odd functions of z when the order n of the differential equation is even and (iii) solutions which are exponentially damped as |z|→∞ in a certain sector of the z-plane.

This paper combines the global bifurcation theory of Rabinowitz with Sturmian theory and careful estimates to obtain a detailed qualitative description of bifurcating branches of solutions to the equations for whirling nonuniform, nonlinearly elastic strings. These results generalize earlier work of Kolodner and Stuart on inextensible strings. It is shown that the location of solution branches for the generalization of Kolodner's problem is especially sensitive to the material properties of the string, whereas that for Stuart's problem is not. The analysis of a third problem illuminates the source of this dichotomy.

For a certain class of first order systems of differential equations several theorems are derived which give sufficient conditions for an appropriate sesquilinear form to be identically zero on suitable spaces of solutions of the system. As a consequence for second order systems limit-point criteria are obtained which include rather general criteria in the case of second order equations. The method used involves sequences of auxiliary functions and is most expedient for the proof of interval limit-point criteria. The theory is also applicable to second order equations with complex coefficients yielding sufficient conditions for the existence of solutions which are not of integrable square.

Wirtinger-type inequalities of order n are inequalities between quadratic forms involving derivatives of order k ≦ n of admissible functions in an interval (a, b). Several methods for establishing these inequalities are investigated, leading to improvements of classical results as well as systematic generation of new ones. A Wirtinger inequality for Hamiltonian systems is obtained in which standard regularity hypotheses are weakened and singular intervals are permitted, and this is employed to generalize standard inequalities for linear differential operators of even order. In particular second order inequalities of Beesack's type are developed, in which the admissible functions satisfy only the null boundary conditions at the endpoints of [a, b] and b does not exceed the first systems conjugate point (a) of a. Another approach is presented involving the standard minimization theory of quadratic forms and the theory of “natural boundary conditions”. Finally, inequalities of order n + k are described in terms of (n, n)-disconjugacy of associated 2nth order differential operators.

In this paper we give sufficient conditions (Theorems 1 and 2) for the instability of the fourth order differential equation

This paper studies stability of steady state solutions in a non-linear viscoelastic fluid. The main technique is to imbed the equation of motion in singularly perturbed equations and apply an energy method and the parabolic maximum principle.

A general ergodic theorem is proved for semi-group operators on B-space X. In particular X may be a Lebesgue space Lp(S, Σ, μ) where (S, Σ, μ) is a positive measure space.

The discussion is based on the theory of semi-groups as developed by Hille [6] and results in the theory of product measures [3]. The reader need only be familiar with the basic concepts of these theories, as all pertinent results used in this note are proved as they are needed.

In this paper, the formally J-symmetric Sturm—Liouville operator with complex-valued coefficients is considered, and as a preliminary two criteria are established for the J-selfadjointness of certain of its extensions. The main purpose of the work is to give results on the location of the point spectra of such operators. Some of the results are extensions of results known for real-valued coefficients, whilst others are new.

In this paper we show that Dirichlet problems at resonance, being of the type −Δu(x) = λku(x) + g(u(x)), x є G, u(x) = 0 for x є ∂G, g(−u) = −g(u), admit multiple non-trivial solutions provided the non-linearity interacts in some sense with the spectrum of −Δ. In contrast to other work on this subject we deal with the case that g(u) is very small for large arguments, for instance g(u) = 0 for |u| large. On the other hand if and g satisfies a certain concavity condition at 0 the existence of infinitely many solutions is shown independent of the asymptotic behaviour of g.

We give a formula (4) for a variety of ordinary linear differential equations of order n with distributional coefficients. There appear as coefficients distributions of order k ≦ n/2, i.e. these distributions are kth distributional derivatives of locally L-integrable functions. With a suitable transformation (7) the differential equations can be transformed into first order systems (8) with integrable coefficients. From this follows the existence of a continuous solution, which can be uniquely determined by proper initial conditions.

The coefficients in the differential equations considered are chosen as general as possible but such that a transformation into a system with integrable coefficients can be performed, and that all products are defined by Leibniz' formula.

Let (Tn) be a non-decreasing sequence of self-adjoint operators which are semi-bounded from below and converge to some self-adjoint operator T in the sense of strong resolvent convergence. For every λ which is eventually below the essential spectrum of Tn it is shown that ‖En(λ)−E(λ)‖→0 for n→∞, where En(·) and E(·) are the spectral resolution of Tn and T, respectively.

In recent years it has become clear that AW*-algebras can be much more pathological and unlike von Neumann algebras than was originally expected. When AW*-algebras are monotone complete, then the work of Kadison and Pederson shows that a particularly smooth and elegant theory can be developed. A technically weaker requirement on an AW*-algebra is that it be “normal”. This condition, which says that the lattice of projections is embedded in a well-behaved way in the partially ordered set of all self-adjoint elements, can sometimes be used as a substitute for monotone completeness. In this note we prove that when an AW*-algebra is of finite type (that is x*x = 1 implies xx* = 1) then it is normal.

A uniform asymptotic expansion of the Laplace integrals ℒ(f, s) with explicit remainder terms is given. This expansion is valid in the whole complex s−plane. In particular, for s = −ix, it provides the Fourier integral expansion.

In a previous publication we investigated certain idempotent residuated mappings and showed how these could be used to provide a solution to the problem of finding a Baer semigroup coordinatisation of bounded modular lattices. Here we use essentially the same idempotents to provide a coordinatisation of bounded distributive lattices. Specifically, we prove that a bounded lattice L is distributive if and only if it can be coordinatised by a Baer semigroup S such that if eS, fS, gS ∈ R(S) with eS ∩ fS = eS ∩ gS then there are idempotents ē, , ∈ S such that ēS = eS, S = fS, S = gS and ē commutes with both and .

The main result of this article is the calculation of the first derivative of Teichmüller's metric from an inequality of Reich and Strebel. Furthermore, from the same inequality one is able to calculate information about the difference quotient for the second derivative. From the techniques used here it does not seem possible to determine whether the metric is C2.

We provide a sufficient and “almost” necessary condition for the existence of a periodic solution of the equation

where F is nondecreasing in u and has a small linear growth as |u|→∞.

The Poincaré-Bendixson theorem, concerning the existence of periodic orbits of plane autonomous systems, is extended to higher order systems under certain conditions. Under similar conditions, a complementary theorem on the existence of recurrent orbits is also proved. For the feedback control equation, these conditions are reduced to a form which can be easily verified in practice.