Integration in variational inequalities on spatial grids (Q2473773)

The authors consider variational problems for functionals defined on functions continuous on geometrically connected graphs composed of the finite set of edges (intervals) and the set of internal vertices which are the endpoints of these intervals. An analog of the classical Euler-Lagrange theorem for minimization problem for such functionals is formulated and then a second-order condition similar to the classical Jacobi theorem is discussed. To prove the theorem related to the strict positive definiteness of the second variation of the functional the authors construct an analog of the formula of integration by parts and prove some lemmas on conditions under which a function uniformly continuous on each edge is smoothed at an interval vertex.