This paper deals with initial value problems in ℝ2 which are governed by a hyperbolic differential equation containing a small positive factor ε in front of the second order part of the differential operator. Pointwise a priori estimates for the solution are established by means of an energy integral method. With the help of these estimates it is shown that the solution admits an asymptotic expansion into powers of ε which is uniformly valid in compact subsets of ℝ2. All results are obtained under the assumption that the characteristics of the first order part of the differential operator satisfy a so-called “timelike” condition. A discussion of the concepts “timelike” and “spacelike” is given.

An exponential form of the Riccati transformation is used to establish zeros of solutions of a class of characteristic initial value problems.

A quadratic functional Q is considered which is defined by an integral on a subset of functions in a weighted Hilbert space. The functional Q is minimized subject to the Dirichlet index of the associated differential operator being minimal. The infimum of Q is shown to be the least point in the spectrum of a certain self-adjoint operator which arises as a Friedrichs extension.

A monotone iteration scheme for the solution of the initial boundary problems associated with a system of semilinear parabolic differential equations has been developed that does not require the nonlinearities to be quasimonotone. The class of equations to which this scheme applies includes physical models that describe combustion processes involving Arrhenius reaction terms.

We give a simple description of the wave operators appearing in the Lax-Phillips scattering theory. This is used to derive a relation between the scattering matrix and a kind of time delay operator and to characterize all scattering systems having the same scattering operator.

For the investigation of certain kinds of reflexivity in topological vector spaces, Sova has shown that the ideas of panneaux and of espaces pannelés are as crucial as are those of barrels and of barrelled spaces. The objectives of this note are: (i) to establish the existence of (concentrated) barrels which are not panneaux, and (ii) to observe the equivalence of the conditions “pannelé” and “barrelled” for metrizable spaces, and the failure of this equivalence for general spaces.

Suppose that f: ℝ×ℂN→ℂN is holomorphic in z and continuous in t, and that Φ: ℂN×ℂN→ℂN is holomorphic. Boundary value problems of the form

are considered. The particular interest is in the structure and topological properties of the set of solutions. The paper is motivated by the corresponding properties of the set of periodic solutions of ż = f(t, z) when f is periodic in t. Consideration of this complex equation gives information about the periodic solutions of the real equation ẋ = f(t, x).

A characterization of the symmetric group of degree 9 is given in terms of the centralizer of an element of order 3.

For the Cauchy problem for strictly hyperbolic systems with general eigenvalues, we obtain existence of global smooth solutions under certain conditions on the composition of the eigenvalues and the initial data; on the other hand, we give a sufficient condition which guarantees that singularities of the solution must occur in a finite time and describe certain applications. The present paper includes the corresponding results in earlier papers by several authors as special cases.

Let N(u, g, h) denote the number of subgroups of index u, genus g and parabolic class number h in the classical modular group. In 1974, Petersson proved that, for g = 0 and h = 1, 2, N(u, g, h) grows exponentially with u. We obtain a formula valid for all g and h. From this we derive an asymptotic estimate, showing that Petersson's result gives the correct type of growth. The proofs use coset diagrams.

These polynomials, which are intimately connected with the Legendre, Laguerre and Jacobi polynomials, are orthogonal with respect to Stieltjes weight functions which are absolutely continuous on (− 1, 1), (0, ∞) and (0, 1), respectively, but which have jumps at some of the intervals' ends. Each set satisfies a fourth order differential equation of the form Ly = λny, where the coefficients of the operator L depends only upon the independent variable. The polynomials also have other properties, which are usually associated with the classical orthogonal polynomials.

In this paper we obtain some new results on a nonlinear parabolic system related to the equations of the nematic liquid crystals and introduced in earlier papers by J. P. Dias.

These results mainly concern the existence and uniqueness of generalized solutions for discontinuous data and also their asymptotic behaviour in various cases.

Given the linear hyperbolic evolution equation (P0) on a reflexive Banach space, we present a new method for an existence proof of unbounded solutions admitting an exponential growth rate as time tends to infinity. Utilizing abstract Wiener—Hopf techniques, an operational calculus is developed for the construction of the resolving operator associated with the problem under consideration. The results are based upon the fundamental hypothesis that the spectral set of the time-independent mapping A is contained in the interior of a parabola. The distance of the focus from the vertex of this parabola turns out to be a measure for the growth rate. Applicability of the results is shown in the case where A is a non-symmetric perturbation of a self-adjoint partial differential operator.

The present note is concerned to develop the principle of limiting absorption for the Laplacian Δ on a two-point homogeneous noncompact space M = G/H subject to a real-valued potential perturbation V. Such a property depends on the detailed structure of the Laplacian in a suitable coordinate system while V is assumed to satisfy a short-range condition.

We consider the question: When do two ordinary linear differential expressions commute? It turns out that the set of all expressions which commute with a given one form a commutative ring. Here we study the algebraic structure of these rings. As an application a complete characterization of normal differential expressions is obtained.

Dual similarity solutions in the context of mixed convection are presented. In contrast to the Falkner–Skan solutions the bifurcation point is found to be distinct from the point of vanishing skin friction. The eigenvalue problem arising out of a stability analysis of these solutions is examined numerically. The numerical evidence would seem to indicate that the margin of stability is associated with the onset of reverse flow as opposed to the bifurcation point, as conjectured by Banks and Drazin in 1973.