No label defined (Q3972969)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0719.00020.] In the first part of this lecture note the authors present some ideas and previously published results concerning subdifferential calculus and in particular a simple notion of ``subdifferential'', ``lower critical point'' and ``curve of maximal slope'' in situations with lack of convexity. This approach extends the typical ideas of the convex theory. In particular a function \(f\) on a constrained set \(V\) is studied by considering a new function which agrees with \(f\) on \(V\) and is equal to \(+\infty\) outside. To this aim the class of \(\Phi\)-convex functions is introduced. For this class of functions the authors expose an existence theorem for curves of maximal slope and a theorem which is useful for studying lower critical points on constraints of the type \(K\cap M\), \(K\) being a closed convex set and \(M\) a manifold. In the latter theorem an essential role is played by the ``non tangency'' assumption between \(K\) and \(M\). The previous results are based, among other things, on a lemma which establishes the existence of the minimum for a lower semicontinuous function with a suitable penalization and on a theorem for the minima of \(\Phi\)-convex functions which can be deduced by the previous lemma. Following this framework, in the second part of the note, the authors consider the problem of well clamped plates with rigid obstacles to the motion. They present (without proofs) a theorem of existence aofs) a theorem of existence and a theorem of multiplicity which can be obtained using the abstract theorems of the first part. In particular some suitable conditions are studied which ensure in this case that the nontangency condition is fulfilled.