Mathematics

Energy minimality selects among possible configurations of a continuous body with and without cracks those compatible with assigned boundary conditions of Dirichlet-type. Crack paths are described in terms of curvature varifolds so that we consider both \textquotedblleft phase" (cracked or non-cracked) and crack orientation. The energy considered is gradient polyconvex: it accounts for relative variations of second-neighbor surfaces and pressure-confinement effects. We prove the existence of minimizers for such an energy. They are pairs of deformations and varifolds. The former ones are taken to be SBV maps satisfying an impenetrability condition. Their jump set is constrained to be in the varifold support.

We provide a new convergence proof of the celebrated Merriman-Bence-Osher scheme for multiphase mean curvature flow. Our proof applies to the new variant incorporating a general class of surface tensions and mobilities, including typical choices for modeling grain growth. The basis of the proof are the minimizing movements interpretation of Esedo?lu and Otto and De Giorgi's general theory of gradient flows. Under a typical energy convergence assumption we show that the limit satisfies a sharp energy-dissipation relation.

In this paper, we investigate the decay properties of axially symmetric solutions to the steady incompressible magnetohydrodynamic equations in \mathbb{R}^3 with finite Dirichlet integral. We first derive the decay rates of general D-solutions to the axisymmetric MHD equations. In the special case where the magnetic field only has the swirl component {\textbf {h}}(r,z)= h_þ(r,z) {\bf e_þ} , we obtain better decay rates. The last result examines the decay rates along the axis Oz also within the special class of D-solutions with only swirl magnetic field. The main tool in this paper is the combination of the scaling argument, the \textit{Brezis-Gallouet inequality} and the weighted energy estimate.

Over the last ten years, results from [Melenk-Sauter, 2010], [Melenk-Sauter, 2011], [Esterhazy-Melenk, 2012], and [Melenk-Parsania-Sauter, 2013] decomposing high-frequency Helmholtz solutions into "low"- and "high"-frequency components have had a large impact in the numerical analysis of the Helmholtz equation. These results have been proved for the constant-coefficient Helmholtz equation in either the exterior of a Dirichlet obstacle or an interior domain with an impedance boundary condition. Using the Helffer-Sjöstrand functional calculus, this paper proves analogous decompositions for scattering problems fitting into the black-box scattering framework of Sjöstrand-Zworski, thus covering Helmholtz problems with variable coefficients, impenetrable obstacles, and penetrable obstacles all at once. In particular, these results allow us to prove new frequency-explicit convergence results for (i) the hp -finite-element method applied to the variable coefficient Helmholtz equation in the exterior of a Dirichlet obstacle, when the obstacle and coefficients are analytic, and (ii) the h -finite-element method applied to the Helmholtz penetrable-obstacle transmission problem.

This paper is concerned with a reaction--diffusion system modeling the fixation and the invasion in a population of a gene drive (an allele biasing inheritance, increasing its own transmission to offspring). In our model, the gene drive has a negative effect on the fitness of individuals carrying it, and is therefore susceptible of decreasing the total carrying capacity of the population locally in space. This tends to generate an opposing demographic advection that the gene drive has to overcome in order to invade. While previous reaction--diffusion models neglected this aspect, here we focus on it and try to predict the sign of the traveling wave speed. It turns out to be an analytical challenge, only partial results being within reach, and we complete our theoretical analysis by numerical simulations. Our results indicate that taking into account the interplay between population dynamics and population genetics might actually be crucial, as it can effectively reverse the direction of the invasion and lead to failure. Our findings can be extended to other bistable systems, such as the spread of cytoplasmic incompatibilities caused by Wolbachia.

We consider the homogenization of a Poisson problem or a Stokes system in a randomly punctured domain with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We assume that the holes are spherical and have random centres and radii. We impose that the average distance between the balls is of size $\eps$ and their average radius is ε α , α??1;3) . We prove that, as in the periodic case [G. Allaire, ``Homogenization of the Navier-Stokes equations in domains perforated with tiny holes. II''], the solutions converge to the solution of Darcy's law (or its scalar analogue in the case of Poisson). In the same spirit of [A. Giunti, R. Höfer and J. Velázquez, ``Homogenization of the Poisson equation in randomly perforated domains under minimal assumptions on the size of the holes''], we work under minimal conditions on the integrability of the random radii. These ensure that the problem is well-defined but do not rule out the onset of clusters of holes.

The goal of this work is to design an acoustic mode converter. More precisely, the wave number is chosen so that two modes can propagate. We explain how to construct geometries such that the energy of the modes is completely transmitted and additionally the mode 1 is converted into the mode 2 and conversely. To proceed, we work in a symmetric waveguide made of two branches connected by two thin ligaments whose lengths and positions are carefully tuned. The approach is based on asymptotic analysis for thin ligaments around resonance lengths. We also provide numerical results to illustrate the theory.

We show that on an a-priori unknown Riemannian manifold (M,g) , measuring the source-to-solution map for the semilinear wave equation at a single point determines the topological, differential, and geometric structure.

This paper studies a longitudinal shape transformation model in which shapes are deformed in response to an internal growth potential that evolves according to an advection reaction diffusion process. This model extends prior works that considered a static growth potential, i.e., the initial growth potential is only advected by diffeomorphisms. We focus on the mathematical study of the corresponding system of coupled PDEs describing the joint dynamics of the diffeomorphic transformation together with the growth potential on the moving domain. Specifically, we prove the uniqueness and long time existence of solutions to this system with reasonable initial and boundary conditions as well as regularization on deformation fields. In addition, we provide a few simple simulations of this model in the case of isotropic elastic materials in 2D.

We investigate under which assumptions the flow associated to autonomous planar vector fields inherits the Sobolev or BV regularity of the vector field. We consider nearly incompressible and divergence-free vector fields, taking advantage in both cases of the underlying Hamiltonian structure. Finally we provide an example of an autonomous planar Sobolev divergence-free vector field, such that the corresponding regular Lagrangian flow has no bounded variation.