The development of methods of nonlinear mechanics in the works of Yu. A. Mitropol'skij (Q1096602)

[See also the review of the Russian original in Zbl 0617.01016.] At the beginning of the 1930s the necessity arose for the creation of a mathematically proved theory applicable for the study of periodic and nonperiodic processes arising in nonlinear oscillating systems. This problem was solved by N. M. Krylov and N. N. Bogolyubov, based on the construction of asymptotic expansions. Together with them, as well as with many other collaborators, Mitropol'skij created an entire area of mathematical physics, in which primary attention is given to methods of analysis of oscillating systems. At the present time it is difficult to produce any essential problem of nonlinear mechanics to which Mitropol'skij did not bring an important contribution. This article gives the basic ideas underlying the new approaches succeeded by Mitropol'skij and his co-workers. The exposition begins with the ``Development of asymptotic methods'' for the investigation of systems with slowly varying parameters describing nonstationary oscillatory processes. A natural development of this subject was the so-called ``single-frequency method'', which is suitable for investigation of nonstationary oscillating systems with many degrees of freedom. Along with these two methods, the ``method of averaging'' (for which Bogolyubov gave a rigorous mathematical foundation), Mitropol'skij developed the method of averaging in connection with the most diverse classes of differential equations containing ``small'' and ``large'' parameters (``slowly varying'' ones). An important place of Mitropol'skij's investigations occupy qualitative aspects: the ``Investigation of integral manifolds''. The article still refers to the ``Method of accelerated convergence'' (a new variant of the method of successive changes of variables), as well as, developed in recent years, the ``Asymptotic methods in multifrequency systems''. The article concludes with the advice that the content described in it does not give a full representation of the entire work of Mitropol'skij. For more recent achievements see the monographs cited by the authors at the end of their article.