Variational Analysis and Applications - (Nonconvex Optimization and Its Applications) by Franco Giannessi & Antonino Maugeri (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This Volume contains the (refereed) papers presented at the 38th Conference of the School of Mathematics "G.Stampacchia" of the "E.Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture of Erice (Sicily), held in Memory ofG. Stampacchia and J.-L. Lions in the period June 20 - July 2003. The presence of participants from Countries has greatly contributed to the success of the meeting. The School of Mathematics was dedicated to Stampacchia, not only for his great mathematical achievements, but also because He founded it. The core of the Conference has been the various features of the Variational Analysis and their motivations and applications to concrete problems. Variational Analysis encompasses a large area of modem Mathematics, such as the classical Calculus of Variations, the theories of perturbation, approximation, subgradient, subderivates, set convergence and Variational Inequalities, and all these topics have been deeply and intensely dealt during the Conference. In particular, Variational Inequalities, which have been initiated by Stampacchia, inspired by Signorini Problem and the related work of G. Fichera, have offered a very great possibility of applications to several fundamental problems of Mathematical Physics, Engineering, Statistics and Economics. The pioneer work of Stampacchia and Lions can be considered as the basic kernel around which Variational Analysis is going to be outlined and constructed. The Conference has dealt with both finite and infinite dimensional analysis, showing that to carry on these two aspects disjointly is unsuitable for both.

From the Back Cover

This book discusses a new discipline, variational analysis, which contains the calculus of variations, differential calculus, optimization, and variational inequalities. To such classic branches of mathematics, variational analysis provides a uniform theoretical base that represents a powerful tool for the applications. The contributors are among the best experts in the field.

Audience

The target audience of this book includes scholars in mathematics (especially those in mathematical analysis), mathematical physics and applied mathematics, calculus of variations, optimization and operations research, industrial mathematics, structural engineering, and statistics and economics.