On the homogenization of periodic hyperbolic systems (Q2334937)

In the paper under review, the author studies the homogenization problem in the small period limit of the solution \(u_\epsilon\) of the Cauchy problem for hyperbolic systems in \(\mathbb{R}^d\). For a periodic function \(g\) and a first-order matrix differential operator \(b(D)\), the author considers a problem of the type \[ \left\{ \begin{array}{ll} \partial_t^2u_\epsilon(x,t)=-b(D)^\ast g(x/\epsilon)b(D)u_\epsilon(x,t)\, & x \in \mathbb{R}^d\, ,\quad t \in \mathbb{R}\, ,\\ u_\epsilon(x,0)=\phi(x)\, , \quad (\partial_tu_\epsilon)(x,0)=\psi(x)\, , & x\in \mathbb{R}^d\, , \end{array} \right. \] under suitable assumptions on the data. The solution \(u_\epsilon\) admits the representation \[ u_\epsilon(\cdot,t)=\cos(tA_\epsilon^{1/2})\phi+A_\epsilon^{-1/2}\sin(tA_\epsilon^{1/2})\psi\, , \] where \[ A_\epsilon=b(D)^\ast g(x/\epsilon)b(D)\, , \qquad \epsilon>0\, . \] The author is interested into studying the behavior of the solution \(u_\epsilon(\cdot,t)\). The author exploits the operator-theoretic approach to homogenization problems. Several estimates for the convergence rate in terms of the operator norm are obtained. Finally, the result obtained for the homogeneous problem above are applied to the Cauchy problem for an inhomogeneous equation.