An Introduction to Nonlinear Analysis

Martin Schechter

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Publication Date:

2004

Number of Pages:

357

Format:

Hardcover

Series:

Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics 95

Price:

75.00

ISBN:

0-521-84397-9

Category:

Monograph

MAA Review
Table of Contents

[Reviewed by

Mihaela Poplicher

, on

05/25/2006

]

This book is the 95th in the Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics series; it covers the tools for solving nonlinear problems. These techniques are quite different than those used to solve linear problems, but Schechter's book requires minimal prerequisites, most of which are included in the appendices.

The possible uses of this book are numerous: a text for a graduate or upper-level undergraduate course, a self-study book, a reference book to be used when needed. The purpose of the book is to teach the methods that can be used in solving nonlinear problems, using as little background material as possible and only the simplest linear techniques.

Most of the book's chapters begin with a problem and then introduce tools to help solve that problem. The discussion also includes variations of the initial problem, with the necessary tools for the new situation. In many instances the author demonstrates how the techniques also work in different situations. The problems and the techniques discussed become more and more difficult, culminating in Chapter 10, the largest and the only one to tackle problems in higher dimensions.

The author's approach (as opposed to the traditional "theorem followed by proof" approach) makes the book more readable and therefore more attractive to students. The four appendices include the basics of functional analysis, measure theory and integration, metric spaces, as well as pseudo-gradients. These in themselves give an idea about the depth and the difficulty of the problems treated in the book.

In summary, this is a book about difficult problems, with most of the background included in its appendices. It is presented in a very readable and accessible way, which makes it a perfect candidate for a textbook and a very good addition to any analyst's library.

Mihaela Poplicher is an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include functional analysis, harmonic analysis, and complex analysis. She is also interested in the teaching of mathematics. Her email address is Mihaela.Poplicher@uc.edu.

Contents
Preface page xiii
1 Extrema 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 A one dimensional problem 1
1.3 The Hilbert space H 10
1.4 Fourier series 17
1.5 Finding a functional 20
1.6 Finding a minimum, I 23
1.7 Finding a minimum, II 28
1.8 A slight improvement 30
1.9 Finding a minimum, III 32
1.10 The linear problem 33
1.11 Nontrivial solutions 35
1.12 Approximate extrema 36
1.13 The Palais-Smale condition 40
1.14 Exercises 42
2 Critical points 45
2.1 A simple problem 45
2.2 A critical point 46
2.3 Finding a Palais-Smale sequence 47
2.4 Pseudo-gradients 52
2.5 A sandwich theorem 55
2.6 A saddle point 60
2.7 The chain rule 64
vii
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0521843979 - An Introduction to Nonlinear Analysis
Martin Schechter
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viii Contents
2.8 The Banach fixed point theorem 65
2.9 Picard's theorem 66
2.10 Continuous dependence of solutions 68
2.11 Continuation of solutions 69
2.12 Extending solutions 71
2.13 Resonance 72
2.14 The question of nontriviality 75
2.15 The mountain pass method 76
2.16 Other intervals for asymptotic limits 79
2.17 Super-linear problems 82
2.18 A general mountain pass theorem 83
2.19 The Palais-Smale condition 85
2.20 Exercises 85
3 Boundary value problems 87
3.1 Introduction 87
3.2 The Dirichlet problem 87
3.3 Mollifiers 88
3.4 Test functions 90
3.5 Differentiability 92
3.6 The functional 99
3.7 Finding a minimum 101
3.8 Finding saddle points 107
3.9 Other intervals 110
3.10 Super-linear problems 114
3.11 More mountains 116
3.12 Satisfying the Palais-Smale condition 119
3.13 The linear problem 120
3.14 Exercises 121
4 Saddle points 123
4.1 Game theory 123
4.2 Saddle points 123
4.3 Convexity and lower semi-continuity 125
4.4 Existence of saddle points 128
4.5 Criteria for convexity 132
4.6 Partial derivatives 133
4.7 Nonexpansive operators 137
4.8 The implicit function theorem 139
4.9 Exercises 143
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Cambridge University Press
0521843979 - An Introduction to Nonlinear Analysis
Martin Schechter
Table of Contents
More information
Contents ix
5 Calculus of variations 145
5.1 Introduction 145
5.2 The force of gravity 145
5.3 Hamilton's principle 148
5.4 The Euler equations 151
5.5 The G^ateaux derivative 155
5.6 Independent variables 156
5.7 A useful lemma 158
5.8 Sufficient conditions 159
5.9 Examples 165
5.10 Exercises 167
6 Degree theory 171
6.1 The Brouwer degree 171
6.2 The Hilbert cube 175
6.3 The sandwich theorem 183
6.4 Sard's theorem 184
6.5 The degree for differentiable functions 187
6.6 The degree for continuous functions 193
6.7 The Leray-Schauder degree 197
6.8 Properties of the Leray-Schauder degree 200
6.9 Peano's theorem 201
6.10 An application 203
6.11 Exercises 205
7 Conditional extrema 207
7.1 Constraints 207
7.2 Lagrange multipliers 213
7.3 Bang-bang control 215
7.4 Rocket in orbit 217
7.5 A generalized derivative 220
7.6 The definition 221
7.7 The theorem 222
7.8 The proof 226
7.9 Finite subsidiary conditions 229
7.10 Exercises 235
8 Mini-max methods 237
8.1 Mini-max 237
8.2 An application 240
8.3 Exercises 243
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0521843979 - An Introduction to Nonlinear Analysis
Martin Schechter
Table of Contents
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x Contents
9 Jumping nonlinearities 245
9.1 The Dancer-Fu?cÃ¯Ã•k spectrum 245
9.2 An application 248
9.3 Exercises 251
10 Higher dimensions 253
10.1 Orientation 253
10.2 Periodic functions 253
10.3 The Hilbert spaces Ht 254
10.4 Compact embeddings 258
10.5 Inequalities 258
10.6 Linear problems 262
10.7 Nonlinear problems 265
10.8 Obtaining a minimum 271
10.9 Another condition 274
10.10 Nontrivial solutions 277
10.11 Another disappointment 278
10.12 The next eigenvalue 278
10.13 A Lipschitz condition 282
10.14 Splitting subspaces 283
10.15 The question of nontriviality 285
10.16 The mountains revisited 287
10.17 Other intervals between eigenvalues 289
10.18 An example 293
10.19 Satisfying the PS condition 294
10.20 More super-linear problems 297
10.21 Sobolev's inequalities 297
10.22 The case q = 8 303
10.23 Sobolev spaces 305
10.24 Exercises 308
Appendix A Concepts from functional analysis 313
A.1 Some basic definitions 313
A.2 Subspaces 314
A.3 Hilbert spaces 314
A.4 Bounded linear functionals 316
A.5 The dual space 317
A.6 Operators 319
A.7 Adjoints 321
A.8 Closed operators 322
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0521843979 - An Introduction to Nonlinear Analysis
Martin Schechter
Table of Contents
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Contents xi
A.9 Self-adjoint operators 323
A.10 Subsets 325
A.11 Finite dimensional subspaces 326
A.12 Weak convergence 327
A.13 Reflexive spaces 328
A.14 Operators with closed ranges 329
Appendix B Measure and integration 331
B.1 Measure zero 331
B.2 Step functions 331
B.3 Integrable functions 332
B.4 Measurable functions 335
B.5 The spaces Lp 335
B.6 Measurable sets 336
B.7 CarathÃ¯eodory functions 338
Appendix C Metric spaces 341
C.1 Properties 341
C.2 Para-compact spaces 343
Appendix DPseudo-gradien ts 345
D.1 The benefits 345
D.2 The construction 346
Bibliography 353
Index 355

Tags:

Nonlinear Analysis