Existence and convergence of solutions of the boundary value problem in atomistic and continuum nonlinear elasticity theory (Q343006)

The paper discusses existence of solutions for the equations of static atomistic nonlinear elasticity theory on a bounded domain with prescribed boundary values and their convergence to the solutions of continuum nonlinear elasticity theory. One of the aims of the paper for both the continuous and the atomistic model is finding local minimizers of the energy which, under certain conditions, are stable solutions of the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations. These models of nonlinear elasticity are related by the Cauchy-Born rule. Some continuous and atomistic stability constants are defined and characterized thoroughly, the basic stability assumption in continuum elasticity being the classical Legendre-Hadamard condition. An implicit function theorem is used to identify local solutions of the nonlinear problem for the continuous equations, while the solution to the atomistic equations is derived by means of a quantitative version of the implicit function theorem with a small parameter.