Techniques of functional analysis for differential and integral equations (Q343693)

This well-written book describes in a high-level manner a variety of powerful and modern tools from mathematical analysis. These methods are related with topics from ordinary and partial differential equations, integral equations, Fourier analysis, bounded and unbounded operators, spectral theory, variational methods. Knowledge of these techniques is particularly useful as preparation for graduate courses and PhD research in differential equations and numerical analysis, and more specialized topics such as fluid dynamics and control theory. Striking a balance between mathematical depth and accessibility, proofs involving more technical aspects of measure and integration theory are avoided, but clear statements and precise alternative references are given. The volume also includes many examples and exercises drawn from the literature. The author's aim is to give a systematic treatment of some of the fundamental abstract results in functional analysis and of their applications to certain concrete problems arising in the applied sciences. Moreover, by interlacing extensive commentary and foreshadowing subsequent developments within the formal scheme of statements and proofs, by the inclusion of many examples and by appending interesting and challenging exercises, the author has written a book which is eminently suitable as a text for a graduate course. This volume is distinguished by the broad variety of problems covered and by the abstract results developed. The content is divided into the following chapters: 1. Preliminaries; 2. Vector spaces; 3. Metric spaces; 4. Normed linear spaces and Banach spaces; 5. Inner product spaces and Hilbert spaces; 6. Distributions; 7. Fourier analysis and distributions; 8. Distributions and differential equations; 9. Linear operators; 10. Unbounded operators; 11. Spectrum of an operator; 12. Compact operators; 13. Spectra and Green's functions for differential operators; 14. Further study of integral equations; 15. Variational methods; 16. Weak solutions of partial differential equations. The reviewer appreciates that the volume under review deals rigorously with mathematical models of certain applicability to real world problems. From this viewpoint it is a significant contribution to a currently active area of research. Globally, the reviewer very much likes the spirit and the scope of the book. The writing is lively, the material is diverse and maintains a strong unity. The interplay between abstract functional analysis and relevant concrete problems arising in applications is emphasized throughout. On balance, the book is a very useful contribution to the growing literature on this circle of ideas. I wholeheartedly recommend this book both as a textbook, as well as for independent study.