Using a certain well-posed ODE problem introduced by Shilnikov in the sixties, Minervini proved the currential “fundamental Morse equation” of Harvey–Lawson but without the restrictive tameness condition for Morse gradient flows. Here, we construct local resolutions for the flow of a section of a fiber bundle endowed with a vertical vector field which is of Morse gradient type in every fiber in order to remove the tameness hypothesis from the currential homotopy formula proved by the first author. We apply this to produce currential deformations of odd degree closed forms naturally associated to any hermitian vector bundle endowed with a unitary endomorphism and metric compatible connection. A transgression formula involving smooth forms on a classifying space for odd K-theory is also given.

A tight frame is the orthogonal projection of some orthonormal basis of $\mathbb {R}^n$ onto $\mathbb {R}^k.$ We show that a set of vectors is a tight frame if and only if the set of all cross products of these vectors is a tight frame. We reformulate a range of problems on the volume of projections (or sections) of regular polytopes in terms of tight frames and write a first-order necessary condition for local extrema of these problems. As applications, we prove new results for the problem of maximization of the volume of zonotopes.

We consider the problem of finding two free export/import sets $E^+$ and $E^-$ that minimize the total cost of some export/import transportation problem (with export/import taxes $g^\pm $ ), between two densities $f^+$ and $f^-$ , plus penalization terms on $E^+$ and $E^-$ . First, we prove the existence of such optimal sets under some assumptions on $f^\pm $ and $g^\pm $ . Then we study some properties of these sets such as convexity and regularity. In particular, we show that the optimal free export (resp. import) region $E^+$ (resp. $E^-$ ) has a boundary of class $C^2$ as soon as $f^+$ (resp. $f^-$ ) is continuous and $\partial E^+$ (resp. $\partial E^-$ ) is $C^{2,1}$ provided that $f^+$ (resp. $f^-$ ) is Lipschitz.

We study immersed surfaces in ${\mathbb R}^3$ that are critical points of the Willmore functional under boundary constraints. The two cases considered are when the surface meets a plane orthogonally along the boundary and when the boundary is contained in a line. In both cases we derive weak forms of the resulting free boundary conditions and prove regularity by reflection.

This paper deals with the analysis of the singularities arising from the solutions of the problem ${-}\,{\rm Curl\ } F=\mu $, where F is a 3 × 3 matrix-valued Lp-function ($1\les p<2$) and μ a 3 × 3 matrix-valued Radon measure concentrated in a closed loop in Ω ⊂ ℝ3, or in a network of such loops (as, for instance, dislocation clusters as observed in single crystals). In particular, we study the topological nature of such dislocation singularities. It is shown that $F=\nabla u$, the absolutely continuous part of the distributional gradient Du of a vector-valued function u of special bounded variation. Furthermore, u can also be seen as a multi-valued field, that is, can be redefined with values in the three-dimensional flat torus 𝕋3 and hence is Sobolev-regular away from the singular loops. We then analyse the graphs of such maps represented as currents in Ω × 𝕋3 and show that their boundaries can be written in term of the measure μ. Readapting some well-known results for Cartesian currents, we recover closure and compactness properties of the class of maps with bounded curl concentrated on dislocation networks. In the spirit of previous work, we finally give some examples of variational problems where such results provide existence of solutions.

The classical Alexandrov–Bakelman–Pucci estimate for the Laplacian states

$$\begin{eqnarray}\max _{x\in \unicode[STIX]{x03A9}}|u(x)|\leqslant \max _{x\in \unicode[STIX]{x2202}\unicode[STIX]{x03A9}}|u(x)|+c_{s,n}\text{diam}(\unicode[STIX]{x03A9})^{2-\frac{n}{s}}\Vert \unicode[STIX]{x0394}u\Vert _{L^{s}(\unicode[STIX]{x03A9})},\end{eqnarray}$$

$\unicode[STIX]{x03A9}\subset \mathbb{R}^{n}$

$u\in C^{2}(\unicode[STIX]{x03A9})\cap C(\overline{\unicode[STIX]{x03A9}})$

$s>n/2$

$s=n/2$

$n\geqslant 3$

$\unicode[STIX]{x03A9}\subset \mathbb{R}^{n}$

$$\begin{eqnarray}\max _{x\in \unicode[STIX]{x03A9}}|u(x)|\leqslant \max _{x\in \unicode[STIX]{x2202}\unicode[STIX]{x03A9}}|u(x)|+c_{n}\Vert \unicode[STIX]{x0394}u\Vert _{L^{\frac{n}{2},1}(\unicode[STIX]{x03A9})},\end{eqnarray}$$

$L^{p,q}$

$L^{p}$

$n=2$

$c>0$

$\unicode[STIX]{x03A9}\subset \mathbb{R}^{2}$

$$\begin{eqnarray}\max _{x\in \unicode[STIX]{x03A9}}|u(x)|\leqslant \max _{x\in \unicode[STIX]{x2202}\unicode[STIX]{x03A9}}|u(x)|+c\max _{x\in \unicode[STIX]{x03A9}}\int _{y\in \unicode[STIX]{x03A9}}\max \left\{1,\log \left(\frac{|\unicode[STIX]{x03A9}|}{\Vert x-y\Vert ^{2}}\right)\right\}|\unicode[STIX]{x0394}u(y)|dy.\end{eqnarray}$$

We demonstrate that Radon measures which arise as the limit of the Modica-Mortola measures associated with phase-fields with uniformly bounded diffuse area and Willmore energy may be singular at the boundary of a domain and discuss implications for practical applications. We furthermore give partial regularity results for the phase-fields uε at the boundary in terms of boundary conditions and counterexamples without boundary conditions.

We prove a reverse Faber–Krahn inequality for the Cheeger constant, stating that every convex body in ℝ2 has an affine image such that the product between its Cheeger constant and the square root of its area is not larger than the same quantity for the regular triangle. An analogous result holds for centrally symmetric convex bodies with the regular triangle replaced by the square. We also prove a Mahler-type inequality for the Cheeger constant, stating that every axisymmetric convex body in ℝ2 has a linear image such that the product between its Cheeger constant and the Cheeger constant of its polar body is not larger than the same quantity for the square.

The scope of the paper is twofold. We show that for a large class of measurable vector fields in the sense of Weaver (i.e. derivations over the algebra of Lipschitz functions), called in the paper laminated, the notion of integral curves may be naturally defined and characterized (when appropriate) by an ordinary differential equation. We further show that for such vector fields the notion of a flow of the given positive Borel measure similar to the classical one generated by a smooth vector field (in a space with smooth structure) may be defined in a reasonable way, so that the measure ‘flows along’ the appropriately understood integral curves of the given vector field and the classical continuity equation is satisfied in the weak sense.

A nonlinear mathematical model for innovation diffusion is proposed. The system of ordinary differential equations incorporates variable external influences (the cumulative density of marketing efforts), variable internal influences (the cumulative density of word of mouth) and a logistically growing human population (the variable potential consumers). The change in population density is due to various demographic processes such as intrinsic growth rate, emigration, death rate etc. Thus the problem involves two dynamic variables viz. a non-adopter population density and an adopter population density. The model is analysed qualitatively using the stability theory of differential equations, with the help of the corresponding characteristic equation of the system. The interior equilibrium point can be stable for all time delays to a critical value, beyond which the system becomes unstable and a Hopf bifurcation occurs at a second critical value. Employing normal form theory and a centre manifold theorem applicable to functional differential equations, we derive some explicit formulas determining the stability, the direction and other properties of the bifurcating periodic solutions. Our numerical simulations show that the system behaviour can become extremely complicated as the time delay increases, with a stable interior equilibrium point leading to a limit cycle with one local maximum and minimum per cycle (Hopf bifurcation), then limit cycles with more local maxima and minima per cycle, and finally chaotic solutions.

We consider the total curvature of graphs of curves in high-codimension Euclidean space. We introduce the corresponding relaxed energy functional and prove an explicit representation formula. In the case of continuous Cartesian curves, i.e. of graphs cu of continuous functions u on an interval, we show that the relaxed energy is finite if and only if the curve cu has bounded variation and finite total curvature. In this case, moreover, the total curvature does not depend on the Cantor part of the derivative of u. We treat the wider class of graphs of one-dimensional functions of bounded variation, and we prove that the relaxed energy is given by the sum of the length and total curvature of the new curve obtained by closing the holes in cu generated by jumps of u with vertical segments.

We generalize to the anisotropic case some classical and recent results on the (n – 1)-Minkowski content of rectifiable sets in ℝn, and on the outer Minkowski content of subsets of ℝn. In particular, a general formula for the anisotropic outer Minkowski content is provided; it applies to a wide class of sets that are stable under finite unions.

In the ambient space of a semidirect product $\mathbb{R}^{2}\rtimes _{A}\mathbb{R}$, we consider a connected domain ${\rm\Omega}\subseteq \mathbb{R}^{2}\rtimes _{A}\{0\}$. Given a function $u:{\rm\Omega}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$, its ${\it\pi}$-graph is $\text{graph}(u)=\{(x,y,u(x,y))\mid (x,y,0)\in {\rm\Omega}\}$. In this paper we study the partial differential equation that $u$ must satisfy so that $\text{graph}(u)$ has prescribed mean curvature $H$. Using techniques from quasilinear elliptic equations we prove that if a ${\it\pi}$-graph has a nonnegative mean curvature function, then it satisfies some uniform height estimates that depend on ${\rm\Omega}$ and on the supremum the function attains on the boundary of ${\rm\Omega}$. When $\text{trace}(A)>0$, we prove that the oscillation of a minimal graph, assuming the same constant value $n$ along the boundary, tends to zero when $n\rightarrow +\infty$ and goes to $+\infty$ if $n\rightarrow -\infty$. Furthermore, we use these estimates, allied with techniques from Killing graphs, to prove the existence of minimal ${\it\pi}$-graphs assuming the value zero along a piecewise smooth curve ${\it\gamma}$ with endpoints $p_{1},\,p_{2}$ and having as boundary ${\it\gamma}\cup (\{p_{1}\}\times [0,\,+\infty ))\cup (\{p_{2}\}\times [0,\,+\infty ))$.

We establish that the intrinsic distance dE associated with an indecomposable plane set E of finite perimeter is infinitesimally Euclidean; namely, in E. By this result, we prove through a standard argument that a conservative vector field in a plane set of finite perimeter has a potential. We also provide some applications to complex analysis. Moreover, we present a collection of results that would seem to suggest the possibility of developing a De Rham cohomology theory for integral currents.

We investigate the interplay between the local and asymptotic geometry of a set $A\subseteq \mathbb{R}^{n}$ and the geometry of model sets ${\mathcal{S}}\subset {\mathcal{P}}(\mathbb{R}^{n})$, which approximate $A$ locally uniformly on small scales. The framework for local set approximation developed in this paper unifies and extends ideas of Jones, Mattila and Vuorinen, Reifenberg, and Preiss. We indicate several applications of this framework to variational problems that arise in geometric measure theory and partial differential equations. For instance, we show that the singular part of the support of an $(n-1)$-dimensional asymptotically optimally doubling measure in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ ($n\geqslant 4$) has upper Minkowski dimension at most $n-4$.

We consider a simple body that is hyperelastic in the large-strain regime until the 3-covector defining the first Piola–Kirchhoff stress, once it has been projected on the appropriate second-rank tensor space, reaches a threshold indicating critical states. No information is given on the post-critical behaviour. We determine the existence of equilibrium configurations according to the constraint. Such configurations can have a concentration of strain in regions with vanishing volume. The related stress appears naturally as a measure over the deformation graph. Once it is restricted to the regular part of the deformation, such a measure determines the first Piola–Kirchhoff stress tensor and may also be concentrated over sets with vanishing volume projections on the reference and current placements. These configurations in space can be interpreted as dislocations or dislocation walls. We analyse explicitly specific cases.

We give an L2 x L2 → L2 convolution estimate for singular measures supported on transversal hypersurfaces in ℝn, which improves earlier results of Bejenaru et al. as well as Bejenaru and Herr. The quantities arising are relevant to the study of the validity of bilinear estimates for dispersive partial differential equations. We also prove a class of global, nonlinear Brascamp–Lieb inequalities with explicit constants in the same spirit.

Given the pair (P, η) of (0,2) tensors, where η defines a volume element, we consider a new variational problem varying η only. We then have Einstein metrics and slant immersions as critical points of the 1st variation. We may characterize Ricci flat metrics and Lagrangian submanifolds as stable critical points of our variational problem.

We introduce a ‘double’ version of Γ-convergence, which we have named ‘double Γ-convergence’, and apply it to obtain the Γ-limit of double-perturbed energy functionals as p → 1 and p → +∞, respectively. The limit of (p, q)-type capacity as p → 1 and p → +∞, respectively, is also obtained in this manner.

We discuss the multiplicity of nonnegative solutions of a parametric one-dimensional mean curvature problem. Our main effort here is to describe the configuration of the limits of a certain function, depending on the potential at zero, that yield, for certain values of the parameter, the existence of infinitely many weak nonnegative and nontrivial solutions. Moreover, thanks to a classical regularity result due to Lieberman, this sequence of solutions strongly converges to zero in $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}C^1([0,1])$. Our approach is based on recent variational methods.