H-measures were recently introduced by Luc Tartar as a tool which might provide better understanding of propagating oscillations. Independently, Patrick Gerard introduced the same objects under the name of microlocal defect measures. Partial differential equations of mathematical physics can often be written in the form of a symmetric system:

where Ak and B are matrix functions, while u is an unknown vector function, and f a known vector function. In this work we prove a general propagation theorem for H-measures associated to symmetric systems. This result, combined with the localisation property, is then used to obtain more precise results on the behaviour of H-measures associated to the wave equation, Maxwell's and Dirac's systems, and second-order equations in two variables.

The mapping properties of the finite Hilbert-transform (respectively the Hilbert transform on the half axis) are studied. Invertibility, surjectivity, injectivity and bounded ness from below of the transform are characterised in general weighted spaces. The results are applied to the restriction of the operator with logarithmic kernel.

We consider a class of second-order systems , with q(t) ∊ℝn, for which the potential energy V: ℝn\S→ℝ admits a (possibly unbounded) singular set S ⊂ℝn and has a unique absolute maximum at 0 ∈ℝn. Under some conditions on S and V, we prove the existence of several solutions homoclinic to 0.

We prove partial regularity for minimisers of quasiconvex integrals of the form ∫Ωf(Du(x))dx. More precisely, we consider an integrand f(ξ) having subquadratic growth, i.e. | f(ξ)|≦L(1+|ξ|p) with p < 2. The case of a general integrand depending also on x and u is also considered.

A subsemigroup S of a semigroup Q is a left (right) order in Q if every q ∈ Q can be written as q = a*b(q = ba*) for some a, b ∈S, where a* denotes the inverse of a in a subgroup of Q and if, in addition, every square-cancellable element of S lies in a subgroup of Q. If S is both a left order and a right order in Q, we say that S is an order in Q. We show that if S is a left order in Q and S satisfies a permutation identity xl…xn = x1π…xnπ where 1 < 1π and nπ<n, then S and Q are commutative. We give a characterisation of commutative orders and decide the question of when one semigroup of quotients of a commutative semigroup is a homomorphic image of another. This enables us to show that certain semigroups have maximum and minimum semigroups of quotients. We give examples to show that this is not true in general.

In this paper, we prove that solutions of the anisotropic Allen–Cahn equation in doubleobstacle form

where A is a strictly convex function, homogeneous of degree two, converge to an anisotropic mean-curvature flow

when this equation admits a smooth solution in ℝn. Here VN and R respectively denote the normal velocity and the second fundamental form of the interface, and More precisely, we show that the Hausdorff-distance between the zero-level set of φ and the interface of the above anisotropic mean-curvature flow is of order O(ε2).

We introduce a probabilistic approach to the study of blow-up of positive solutions to a class of semilinear heat equations. This then gives a representation of the coefficients in the power series expansion of the solutions. In a special case, this approach leads to a path-valued Markov process which can also be understood via the theory of Dawson-Watanabe superprocesses. We demonstrate the utility of the approach by proving a result on ‘complete blow-up’ of solutions.

We consider the homogenisation of transport kinetic equations with a highly periodic oscillating external field. The external field, acting on the particles, consists of a sum of a field deriving from a periodic potential and a bounded periodic perturbation. For the profile function generated by the oscillating solution of the problem, we derive a kinetic model with transmission boundary conditions in the energy variable. In some cases, for example when the field is not perturbed, we deduce a transport kinetic equation with memory effect satisfied by the weak-* limit of the sequence of solutions.

We investigate the large-time behaviour of solutions for the outer pressure problem of a viscous heat-conductive one-dimensional real gas. A conclusive answer to the problem of asymptotic behaviour is given in Theorem 1.2.

We study the elasticity domain for an antiplane deformation of a perfect elastoplastic medium, which is described by the Prandtl-Reuss equations. We prove that a boundary of this domain can be found by solving a system of nonlinear functional equations. In the simplest case of simple shear deformations, this system of equations is studied in detail.

This paper proves the existence of solutions to the spherical piston problem for isentropic gas dynamics with equation of state p(p) = Apγ, γ≧ 1. The method of analysis is to replace the usual viscosity ε with εt, thus permitting a search for self-similar viscous limits. The main result of the paper is that self-similar viscous limits are proved to exist and converge to a solution to the piston problem when

N = 1, 2, 3 space dimensions.

We give an estimate of the time needed for a phase transition to be completed in the Stefan problem. Our method is to compare the density of the diffusion process associated with the Stefan problem, with that of Brownian motion.