Local minimization, variational evolution and \(\Gamma\)-convergence (Q371051)

The volume comes out from some recent courses the author gave at the universities of Rome and Pavia, and is devoted to the analysis of variational problems in which small parameters are present. The asymptotic analysis of the related global minimization problems is usually performed by computing the \(\Gamma\)-limit of the corresponding energy functionals, and this approach is often satisfactory when dealing with statical problems, even if in this way the asymptotic behavior of local minimizers is sometimes missed. However, in the study of evolution problems depending on a small parameter, the issue of capturing the behavior of local minimizers and of critical points of the energy functionals is crucial. The volume under review deals with these issues and presents in a very clear way some examples that introduce a more general framework in which most of the physical problems take place. A short introduction to \(\Gamma\)-convergence is given in Section 2, together with the important example of homogenization and the tool of higher order \(\Gamma\)-limits, which is essential in the so-called \(\Gamma\)-expansion method. The subsequent sections deal with the study of the behavior of local minimizers for families \(F_\epsilon\) of energy functionals and with some evolution schemes, suitable to treat several problems from mechanics such as rate-independent evolution, minimizing movements, gradient flows. The volume has been carefully written and the organization of the material has been made in a way a PhD student can gradually become familiar with \(\Gamma\)-convergence analysis and related tools. When possible, one-dimensional examples have been chosen to illustrate the topics and several figures help the reader to follow the presentation. The volume is very suitable for a PhD course devoted to an audience with a good background in functional analysis, function spaces and variational problems.