Mathematical analysis and numerical methods for science and technology. Vol. 5: Evolution problems I. With the collaboration of Michel Artola, Michel Cessenat and Hélène Lanchon. Transl. from the French by Alan Craig. Translation editor: Ian N. Sneddon.

Authors Robert Dautray, Jacques-Louis Lions

Publication date 13 January 2000

Ovsyannikov's theorem semigroup method variational methods

Review text

For a review of the 1st ed. and of the French original see Zbl 0755.35001 and Zbl 0642.35001. The book under review is the fifth volume of the series of six fundamental ones devoted to the thorough presentation of various problems, methods and structures of modern mathematics that forms the principal mathematical apparatus in a number of fields of physics such as electromagnetism, mechanics, quantum physics, etc. The volume describes a number of methods of treating evolution problems that are problems associated with various types of partial differential equations where the main object is the study of the time evolution of the solutions to the equations considered. It consists of five chapters (XIV--XVIII). Chapter XIV deals with the Cauchy problems related as to various linear equations including the diffusion equations, wave equations and the Schrödinger equation so also to nonlinear equations and here the famous Ovsyannikov's theorem is presented. Chapters XV and XVI describe two powerful methods of diagonalization of differential operators namely the Fourier method (of separation of space and time variables and exploiting the spectral decomposition of the selfadjoint term of the operator considered) and the Laplace transform. Here the reader will find a great deal of concrete examples where the numerical solutions are written out explicitly as well as applications of the methods developed to the investigation of existence and uniqueness of the solutions along with physical applications to hydrodynamical problems, problems of diffusion, wave propagation, viscoelasticity, Schrödinger equation and etc. Chapter XVII gives a picture of a more fundamental method of investigation of evolution problems -- the semigroup method which is applicable to a large class of evolution problems of the form \[ {du\over dt}+ Au= f,\quad u(0)= u_0, \] where \(A\) is an (unbounded) infinitesimal generator of a semigroup. The chapter presents a general semigroup ideology including the Hille-Yosida and Stone's theorems on the description of infinitesimal generators of semigroups and unitary groups, Trotter's approximation theorem, the study of differentiable, holomorphic and compact semigroups along with applications to the Cauchy, wave and Schrödinger type problems and an investigation of the asymptotic behaviour of solutions. All the methods considered in Chapters XIV--XVII have some natural limitations such as selfadjointness of the principal terms of the equations in the Fourier method, independent of time coefficients in the Laplace transform or special assumptions on the nature of the operator \(A\) in the semigroup method. The final Chapter XVIII considers the general powerful variational methods that can be applied to asymmetric and time-dependent operators and provides a researcher with the possibility to construct the solution to a given problem by using finite-dimensional spaces. The book will be definitely of use as to undergraduate so also to post-graduate students and researchers interested in practical applications of modern mathematical methods in the treatment of evolution problems. For Part VI see the preceding review Zbl 0956.35001 and the review of its 1st ed. in Zbl 0802.35001.

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