No label defined (Q4230801)

As the authors write in the preface, the book is aimed to ``present some of the many faces of the calculus of variations'', and, in spite of the extent and of the complexity of the subject, a complete range of chapters is treated, starting from the initial notions and arriving to the basic concepts of modern theory, thus leading the reader to topics and questions of current research. The book is divided into two parts. The first one deals with variational problems in one variable, and treats more classical and elementary parts of the subject. The second one deals with problems in more than one variable, and is concerned with more difficult topics and tools. The first part, that uses the notion of Riemann integral, starts with the deduction of the Euler-Lagrange equation of an integral functional, and with a brief introduction to the direct methods and to the subsequential regularity theory in one dimension. Then Jacobi's theory of the second variation and stability of solutions, and Noether's theorem are presented. The variational problem of geodesics is deeply investigated, too, and some aspects of saddle point constructions are also investigated. The theory of Hamilton and Jacobi is also treated extensively. The first part ends with a brief introduction to dynamic optimization. In order to treat problems for multiple integrals, Lebesgue integration theory is summarized at the beginning of the second part. Then some results from functional analysis about Banach and Hilbert spaces are developed, and the theory of \(L^p\) and Sobolev spaces is presented. The problem of the existence of minimizers of some classes of variational integrals is treated by using the direct methods in the convex and weak topology context. The Euler-Lagrange (partial differential) equation and the relative regularity questions are also discussed. Then relaxation theory is presented together with the representation results for some lower semicontinuous envelopes for nonconvex functionals. The case of sequences of functionals is also treated by De Giorgi's theory of \(\Gamma\)-convergence, of which some cases of homogenization and of thin insulating layers are developed. Again in this context, BV spaces are introduced and the phenomenon of the approximability of area-type functionals with elliptic quadratic forms is presented. Finally, bifurcation problems in the calculus of variations is treated by means of the functional analytic approach, and some examples are discussed. The existence of non-minimizing unstable critical points for integral functionals is investigated, too, by using minimax methods and the Palais-Smale condition. The book is self-contained, and the main notions, tools and results utilized are recalled, sometimes without proofs. The needed prerequisites are only the basic results from calculus of one and several variables. The theory is often well motivated, and many examples are discussed in detail.