Extensions of Moser-Bangert theory. Locally minimal solutions (Q621898)

The book is an exhaustive study of the variational problem \[ -\Delta u + F_u(x,u)=0,\qquad x\in {\mathbb{R}}^n, \] where the potential \(F\) is periodic in all its arguments with respect to integer translations (the Allen-Cahn equation may be often reduced to this case too). After the pioneering work of \textit{J. Moser} [Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 3, 229--272 (1986; Zbl 0609.49029)] and \textit{V. Bangert} [Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 6, No. 2, 95--138 (1989; Zbl 0678.58014)], and due to the fundamental contributions of the authors [Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 21, No. 5, 673--688 (2004; Zbl 1149.35341); Adv. Nonlinear Stud. 4, No. 4, 377--396 (2004; Zbl 1229.35047); Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 56, No. 8, 1078--1134 (2003; Zbl 1274.35122); Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 21, No. 2, 157--207 (2004; Zbl 1161.35397)], a version of the Aubry-Mather theory for this type of partial differential equations is now available. This theory is based on a deep analysis of the minimal solutions with prescribed linear growth that satisfy an order property and do not self-intersect under integer translations, and on the existence of heteroclinic solutions inside any gap of minimizers. The construction of these basic solutions occupies the first part of the book, with a detailed description of the variational methods and of the geometric features of the heteroclinics. As a matter of fact, this variational approach (based on constrained minimization of renormalized functionals) is different from the one used in the original papers, and allows the authors to construct new types of more complex solutions as well. Indeed, the second part of the book is devoted to transition and multibump (or, better to say, multitransition) solutions that shadow suitable chains of the basic solutions constructed in the first part. The technique used here for this purpose extends some dynamical system methods to the case of partial differential equations, by taking into account some appropriate integral constraints in order to force the admissible functions to possess the desired oscillating behavior via a local minimization procedure. All in all, the book provides a very clear and detailed variational theory of an important class of partial differential equations, and it presents several open problems of great interest.