The complementing condition and its role in a bifurcation theory applicable to nonlinear elasticity (Q554286)

This paper is a review of recent work on the role of the complementing condition (CC), also known as the Shapiro-Lopatinskii condition, in bifurcation problems related to nonlinear elasticity. The CC for a linear PDE boundary value problem is a condition relating the boundary data to the differential equation, which guarantees that the corresponding operator is Fredholm. For nonlinear problems, the assumption that the linearized problem satisfies the CC is essential for constructing a degree theory which is used for establishing the existence of global branches of solutions of bifurcation problems. However, there are natural examples in elasticity where the CC fails to hold for the linearized problem. The implications of such failure are explored by examining specific problems involving deformations of cylindrical structures, and the authors demonstrate that it can lead to `nonclassical' phenomena such as an infinite sequence of bifurcation points accumulating at a finite value. Based on the specific examples given, the authors raise the question of how general the phenomenon displayed is, that is, whether results connecting the failure of the CC condition with accumulating sequences of bifurcation points can be proved for more general classes of boundary value problems.