Special functions enable us to formulate a scientific problem by reduction such that a new, more concrete problem can be attacked within a well-structured framework, usually in the context of differential equations. A good understanding of special functions provides the capacity to recognize the causality between the abstractness of the mathematical concept and both the impact on and cross-sectional importance to the scientific reality. The special functions to be discussed in this monograph vary greatly, depending on the measurement parameters examined (gravitation, electric and magnetic fields, deformation, climate observables, fluid flow, etc.) and on the respective field characteristic (potential field, diffusion field, wave field). The differential equation under consideration determines the type of special functions that are needed in the desired reduction process. Each chapter closes with exercises that reflect significant topics, mostly in computational applications. As a result, readers are not only directly confronted with the specific contents of each chapter, but also with additional knowledge on mathematical fields of research, where special functions are essential to application. All in all, the book is an equally valuable resource for education in geomathematics and the study of applied and harmonic analysis. Students who wish to continue with further studies should consult the literature given as supplements for each topic covered in the exercises.

Nonlinear complex open systems show great diversity in the process of self-organization, and that diversity increases as complexity increases. The measurement of complexity and the origins of the diversity of such complex systems are the focus of interdisciplinary studies extending across a wide range of scientific disciplines that include applied mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, ecology, sociology, and economics. Previous investigations have concentrated either on complexity or on diversity, but not both. This volume makes clear the relation between complexity and diversity with examples drawn from various disciplines. Compiles here are presentations from the Complexity and Diversity workshop held in Fugue, Japan, in August 1996. The contributions are the results of research in mathematical systems, physical systems, living systems, and social systems, and are contained in the four corresponding sections of the book. Mathematical expressions for the theory of complexity as a fundamental method along with realistic examples for application of systematic methods provide the reader with ready access to the latest topics in complex systems.

The eigenvalue problems for quasilinear and nonlinear operators present many differences with the linear case, and a Lyapunov inequality for quasilinear resonant systems showed the existence of eigenvalue asymptotics driven by the coupling of the equations instead of the order of the equations. For p=2, the coupling and the order of the equations are the same, so this cannot happen in linear problems. Another striking difference between linear and quasilinear second order differential operators is the existence of Lyapunov-type inequalities in R^n when p>n. Since the linear case corresponds to p=2, for the usual Laplacian there exists a Lyapunov inequality only for one-dimensional problems. For linear higher order problems, several Lyapunov-type inequalities were found by Egorov and Kondratiev and collected in On spectral theory of elliptic operators, Birkhauser Basel 1996. However, there exists an interesting interplay between the dimension of the underlying space, the order of the differential operator, the Sobolev space where the operator is defined, and the norm of the weight appearing in the inequality which is not fully developed. Also, the Lyapunov inequality for differential equations in Orlicz spaces can be used to develop an oscillation theory, bypassing the classical sturmian theory which is not known yet for those equations. For more general operators, like the p(x) laplacian, the possibility of existence of Lyapunov-type inequalities remains unexplored.

Gathering and updating results scattered in journal articles over thirty years, this self-contained monograph gives a comprehensive introduction to the subject. Its goal is to: - motivate and explain the method for general Lie groups, reducing the proof of deep results in invariant analysis to the verification of two formal Lie bracket identities related to the Campbell-Hausdorff formula (the "Kashiwara-Vergne conjecture"); - give a detailed proof of the conjecture for quadratic and solvable Lie algebras, which is relatively elementary; - extend the method to symmetric spaces; here an obstruction appears, embodied in a single remarkable object called an "e-function"; - explain the role of this function in invariant analysis on symmetric spaces, its relation to invariant differential operators, mean value operators and spherical functions; - give an explicit e-function for rank one spaces (the hyperbolic spaces); - construct an e-function for general symmetric spaces, in the spirit of Kashiwara and Vergne's original work for Lie groups. The book includes a complete rewriting of several articles by the author, updated and improved following Alekseev, Meinrenken and Torossian's recent proofs of the conjecture. The chapters are largely independent of each other. Some open problems are suggested to encourage future research. It is aimed at graduate students and researchers with a basic knowledge of Lie theory.

Few books on the subject of Riemann surfaces cover the relatively modern theory of dessins d'enfants (children's drawings), which was launched by Grothendieck in the 1980s and is now an active field of research. In this 2011 book, the authors begin with an elementary account of the theory of compact Riemann surfaces viewed as algebraic curves and as quotients of the hyperbolic plane by the action of Fuchsian groups of finite type. They then use this knowledge to introduce the reader to the theory of dessins d'enfants and its connection with algebraic curves defined over number fields. A large number of worked examples are provided to aid understanding, so no experience beyond the undergraduate level is required. Readers without any previous knowledge of the field of dessins d'enfants are taken rapidly to the forefront of current research.

Jean Leray (1906-1998) was one of the great French mathematicians of his century. His life's workcan be dividedinto 3 major areas, reflected in these 3 volumes. Volume I, to which an Introduction has been contributed by A. Borel, covers Leray's seminal work in algebraic topology, where he created sheaf theory and discovered the spectral sequences. Volume II, with an introduction by P. Lax, covers fluid mechanics and partial differential equations. Leray demonstrated the existence of the infinite-time extension of weak solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations; 60 years later this profound work has retained all its impact. Volume III, on the theory of several complex variables, has a long introduction by G. Henkin. Leray's work on the ramified Cauchy problem will stand for centuries alongside the Cauchy-Kovalevska theorem for the unramified case.

He was awarded the Malaxa Prize (1938), the Grand Prix in Mathematical Sciences (1940), the Feltrinelli Prize (1971), the Wolf Prize in Mathematics (1979), and the Lomonosov Gold Medal (1988)."

Under the guidance and inspiration of Dr. Ajit Iqbal Singh, an International Conference on Harmonie Analysis took place at the Uni- versity of Delhi, India, from December 18 to 22, 1995. Twenty-one dis- tinguished mathematicians from around the world, as weIl as many from India, participated in this successful and stimulating conference. An underlying theme of the conference was hypergroups, the the- ory of wh ich has developed and been found useful in fields as diverse as special functions, differential equations, probability theory, representa- tion theory, measure theory, Hopf algebras and quantum groups. Some other areas of emphasis that emerged were harmonie analysis of analytic functions, ergo die theory and wavelets. This book includes most of the proceedings of this conference. I chaired the Editorial Board for this publication; the other members were J. M. Anderson (University College London), G. L. Litvinov (Centre for Optimization and Mathematical Modeling, Institute for New Technolo- gies, Moscow), Mrs. A. I. Singh (University ofDelhi, India), V. S. Sunder (Institute of Mathematical Sciences, C.LT., Madras, India), and N. J. Wildberger (University of New South Wales, Australia). I appreciate all the help provided by these editors as weIl as the help and cooperation of Our authors and referees of their papers. I especially appreciate techni- cial assistance and advice from Alan L. Schwartz (University of Missouri - St. Louis, USA) and Martin E. Walter (University of Colorado, USA). Finally, I thank Our editor, Ann Kostant, for her help and encouragement during this project.

This work covers two bases, both performance optimization strategies and a complete introduction to mathematical procedures required for a successful circuit design. It starts from the basics of mathematical procedures and circuit analysis before moving on to the more advanced topics of system optimization and synthesis, along with the complete mathematical apparatus required. The authors have been at pains to make the material accessible by limiting the mathematics to the necessary minimum.

The main purpose of this book is to provide a simple and accessible introduction to the mixed finite element method as a fundamental tool to numerically solve a wide class of boundary value problems arising in physics and engineering sciences. The book is based on material that was taught in corresponding undergraduate and graduate courses at the Universidad de Concepcion, Concepcion, Chile, during the last 7 years. As compared with several other classical books in the subject, the main features of the present one have to do, on one hand, with an attempt of presenting and explaining most of the details in the proofs and in the different applications. In particular several results and aspects of the corresponding analysis that are usually available only in papers or proceedings are included here.

Second Order Differential Equations presents a classical piece of theory concerning hypergeometric special functions as solutions of second-order linear differential equations. The theory is presented in an entirely self-contained way, starting with an introduction of the solution of the second-order differential equations and then focusingon the systematic treatment and classification of these solutions. Each chapter contains a set of problems which help reinforce the theory. Some of the preliminaries are covered in appendices at the end of the book, one of which provides an introduction to Poincare-Perron theory, and the appendix also contains a new way of analyzing the asymptomatic behavior of solutions of differential equations. This textbook is appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering interested in Ordinary and Partial Differntial Equations. A solutions manual is available online.

The problems of conditional optimization of the uniform (or C-) norm for polynomials and rational functions arise in various branches of science and technology. Their numerical solution is notoriously difficult in case of high degree functions. The book develops the classical Chebyshev's approach which gives analytical representation for the solution in terms of Riemann surfaces. The techniques born in the remote (at the first glance) branches of mathematics such as complex analysis, Riemann surfaces and Teichmuller theory, foliations, braids, topology are applied to approximation problems. The key feature of this book is the usage of beautiful ideas of contemporary mathematics for the solution of applied problems and their effective numerical realization. This is one of the few books where the computational aspects of the higher genus Riemann surfaces are illuminated. Effective work with the moduli spaces of algebraic curves provides wide opportunities for numerical experiments in mathematics and theoretical physics.

In the spectrum of mathematics, graph theory which studies a mathe matical structure on a set of elements with a binary relation, as a recognized discipline, is a relative newcomer. In recent three decades the exciting and rapidly growing area of the subject abounds with new mathematical devel opments and significant applications to real-world problems. More and more colleges and universities have made it a required course for the senior or the beginning postgraduate students who are majoring in mathematics, computer science, electronics, scientific management and others. This book provides an introduction to graph theory for these students. The richness of theory and the wideness of applications make it impossi ble to include all topics in graph theory in a textbook for one semester. All materials presented in this book, however, I believe, are the most classical, fundamental, interesting and important. The method we deal with the mate rials is to particularly lay stress on digraphs, regarding undirected graphs as their special cases. My own experience from teaching out of the subject more than ten years at University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) shows that this treatment makes hardly the course di: fficult, but much more accords with the essence and the development trend of the subject."

A renowned mathematician who considers himself both applied and theoretical in his approach, Peter Lax has spent most of his professional career at NYU, making significant contributions to both mathematics and computing. He has written several important published works and has received numerous honors including the National Medal of Science, the Lester R. Ford Award, the Chauvenet Prize, the Semmelweis Medal, the Wiener Prize, and the Wolf Prize. Several students he has mentored have become leaders in their fields.

Two volumes span the years from 1952 up until 1999, and cover many varying topics, from functional analysis, partial differential equations, and numerical methods to conservation laws, integrable systems andscattering theory.After each paper, or collection of papers, is a commentary placing the paper in context and where relevant discussing more recent developments.Many of the papers in these volumes have become classics and should be read by any serious student of these topics.In terms of insight, depth, and breadth, Lax has few equals.The reader of this selecta will quickly appreciate his brilliance as well as his masterful touch.Having this collection of papers in one place allows one to follow the evolution of his ideas and mathematical interests and to appreciate how many of these papers initiated topics that developed lives of their own."

A renowned mathematician who considers himself both applied and theoretical in his approach, Peter Lax has spent most of his professional career at NYU, making significant contributions to both mathematics and computing. He has written several important published works and has received numerous honors including the National Medal of Science, the Lester R. Ford Award, the Chauvenet Prize, the Semmelweis Medal, the Wiener Prize, and the Wolf Prize. Several students he has mentored have become leaders in their fields.

Two volumes span the years from 1952 up until 1999, and cover many varying topics, from functional analysis, partial differential equations, and numerical methods to conservation laws, integrable systems and scattering theory. After each paper, or collection of papers, is a commentary placing the paper in context and where relevant discussing more recent developments. Many of the papers in these volumes have become classics and should be read by any serious student of these topics. In terms of insight, depth, and breadth, Lax has few equals. The reader of this selecta will quickly appreciate his brilliance as well as his masterful touch. Having this collection of papers in one place allows one to follow the evolution of his ideas and mathematical interests and to appreciate how many of these papers initiated topics that developed lives of their own.

Previous publications on the generalization of the Thomae formulae to "Zn" curves have emphasized the theory's implications in mathematical physics and depended heavily on applied mathematical techniques. This book redevelops these previous results demonstrating how they can be derived directly from the basic properties of theta functions as functions on compact Riemann surfaces.

"Generalizations of Thomae's Formulafor "Zn" Curves" includes several refocused proofs developed in a generalized context that is more accessible to researchers in related mathematical fields such as algebraic geometry, complex analysis, and number theory.

This book is intended for mathematicians with an interest in complex analysis, algebraic geometry or number theory as well as physicists studying conformal field theory."

The purpose of the volume is to bring forward recent trends of research in hypercomplex analysis. The list of contributors includes first rate mathematicians and young researchers working on several different aspects in quaternionic and Clifford analysis. Besides original research papers, there are papers providing the state-of-the-art of a specific topic, sometimes containing interdisciplinary fields. The intended audience includes researchers, PhD students, postgraduate students who are interested in the field and in possible connection between hypercomplex analysis and other disciplines, including mathematical analysis, mathematical physics, algebra.

The aim of this work is to initiate a systematic study of those properties of Banach space complexes that are stable under certain perturbations. A Banach space complex is essentially an object of the form 1 op-l oP +1 ... --+ XP- --+ XP --+ XP --+ ... , where p runs a finite or infiniteinterval ofintegers, XP are Banach spaces, and oP : Xp ..... Xp+1 are continuous linear operators such that OPOp-1 = 0 for all indices p. In particular, every continuous linear operator S : X ..... Y, where X, Yare Banach spaces, may be regarded as a complex: O ..... X ~ Y ..... O. The already existing Fredholm theory for linear operators suggested the possibility to extend its concepts and methods to the study of Banach space complexes. The basic stability properties valid for (semi-) Fredholm operators have their counterparts in the more general context of Banach space complexes. We have in mind especially the stability of the index (i.e., the extended Euler characteristic) under small or compact perturbations, but other related stability results can also be successfully extended. Banach (or Hilbert) space complexes have penetrated the functional analysis from at least two apparently disjoint directions. A first direction is related to the multivariable spectral theory in the sense of J. L.

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in problems involving closed form evaluations of (and representations of the Riemann Zeta function at positive integer arguments as) various families of series associated with the Riemann Zeta function ((s), the Hurwitz Zeta function ((s, a), and their such extensions and generalizations as (for example) Lerch's transcendent (or the Hurwitz-Lerch Zeta function) iI>(z, s, a). Some of these developments have apparently stemmed from an over two-century-old theorem of Christian Goldbach (1690-1764), which was stated in a letter dated 1729 from Goldbach to Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782), from recent rediscoveries of a fairly rapidly convergent series representation for ((3), which is actually contained in a 1772 paper by Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), and from another known series representation for ((3), which was used by Roger Apery (1916-1994) in 1978 in his celebrated proof of the irrationality of ((3). This book is motivated essentially by the fact that the theories and applications of the various methods and techniques used in dealing with many different families of series associated with the Riemann Zeta function and its aforementioned relatives are to be found so far only"in widely scattered journal articles. Thus our systematic (and unified) presentation of these results on the evaluation and representation of the Zeta and related functions is expected to fill a conspicuous gap in the existing books dealing exclusively with these Zeta functions."

problem (0. 2) was the same u that of problem (0. 1). Incidentally, later on Mandzhavidze and Khvedclidze (I) and Simonenko (I) achieved a direct reduction of problem (0. 2) to problem (0. 1) with the help of conformal mappings. Apparenlly, the first paper in which SIES were considered was the paper by Vekua (2) published in 1948. Vekua verified that the equation (0. 3) where (1; C(f), 5 is the operator of 'ingular integration with a Cauchy kernel (Srp)(!) " (". i)-I fr(T - t)-lrp(T)dT, W is the shift operator (WrpHt) = rp{a(t", in the case 01 = - (13,0, = 0. , could be reduced to problem (0. 2). We note thai, in problem (0. 2), the shift ott) need not be a Carlemao shift, . ei. , it is oot necessary that a . . (t) :::: t for some integer 11 ~ 2, where ai(l) " o(ok_dt)), 0(1(1) ::::!. For the first time, the condition 0,(1) == 1 appeared in BPAFS theory in connection with the study of the problem (0. 4) by Carle man (2) who, in particular, showed that problem (0. 4) Wall a natural generalization of the problem on the existence of an a. utomorphic function belonging to a certain group of Fucs. Thus, the paper by Vckua (2) is also the fint paper in which a singular integral equation with a non*Carieman 5hifl is on c sidered.

Regularity of Minimal Surfaces begins with a survey of minimal surfaces with free boundaries. Following this, the basic results concerning the boundary behaviour of minimal surfaces and H-surfaces with fixed or free boundaries are studied. In particular, the asymptotic expansions at interior and boundary branch points are derived, leading to general Gauss-Bonnet formulas. Furthermore, gradient estimates and asymptotic expansions for minimal surfaces with only piecewise smooth boundaries are obtained. One of the main features of free boundary value problems for minimal surfaces is that, for principal reasons, it is impossible to derive a priori estimates. Therefore regularity proofs for non-minimizers have to be based on indirect reasoning using monotonicity formulas. This is followed by a long chapter discussing geometric properties of minimal and H-surfaces such as enclosure theorems and isoperimetric inequalities, leading to the discussion of obstacle problems and of Plateaus problem for H-surfaces in a Riemannian manifold. A natural generalization of the isoperimetric problem is the so-called thread problem, dealing with minimal surfaces whose boundary consists of a fixed arc of given length. Existence and regularity of solutions are discussed. The final chapter on branch points presents a new approach to the theorem that area minimizing solutions of Plateaus problem have no interior branch points.

This volume contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on Operator Theory and Applications held at the University of Algarve in Faro, Portugal, September 12-15, in the year 2000. The main topics of the conference were !> Factorization Theory; !> Factorization and Integrable Systems; !> Operator Theoretical Methods in Diffraction Theory; !> Algebraic Techniques in Operator Theory; !> Applications to Mathematical Physics and Related Topics. A total of 94 colleagues from 21 countries participated in the conference. The major part of participants came from Portugal (32), Germany (17), Israel (6), Mexico (6), the Netherlands (5), USA (4) and Austria (4). The others were from Ukraine, Venezuela (3 each), Spain, Sweden (2 each), Algeria, Australia, Belorussia, France, Georgia, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Russia and Turkey (one of each country). It was the 12th meeting in the framework of the IWOTA conferences which started in 1981 on an initiative of Professors 1. Gohberg (Tel Aviv) and J. W. Helton (San Diego). Up to now, it was the largest conference in the field of Operator Theory in Portugal.

This book gives a systematic account of the facts concerning complexes of differential operators on differentiable manifolds. The central place is occupied by the study of general complexes of differential operators between sections of vector bundles. Although the global situation often contains nothing new as compared with the local one (that is, complexes of partial differential operators on an open subset of ]Rn), the invariant language allows one to simplify the notation and to distinguish better the algebraic nature of some questions. In the last 2 decades within the general theory of complexes of differential operators, the following directions were delineated: 1) the formal theory; 2) the existence theory; 3) the problem of global solvability; 4) overdetermined boundary problems; 5) the generalized Lefschetz theory of fixed points, and 6) the qualitative theory of solutions of overdetermined systems. All of these problems are reflected in this book to some degree. It is superfluous to say that different directions sometimes whimsically intersect. Considerable attention is given to connections and parallels with the theory of functions of several complex variables. One of the reproaches avowed beforehand by the author consists of the shortage of examples. The framework of the book has not permitted their number to be increased significantly. Certain parts of the book consist of results obtained by the author in 1977-1986. They have been presented in seminars in Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Ekaterinburg, and N ovosi birsk.

lEt moi, .... si j'avait Sll comment en revenir, One service mathematics has rendered the human race. It has put common sense back je n'y serais point aile: ' where it belongs, on the topmost shelf next Jules Verne to the dusty canister labelled 'discarded 0- sense'. The series is divergent; therefore we may be Eric T. Bell able to do something with it. o. Heaviside Mathematics is a tool for thought. A highly necessary tool in a world where both feedback and non linearities abound. Similarly, all kinds of parts of mathematics serve as tools for other parts and for other sciences. Applying a simple rewriting rule to the quote on the right above one finds such statements as: 'One service topology has rendered mathematical physics .. .'; 'One service logic has rendered com puter science .. .'; 'One service category theory has rendered mathematics .. .'. All arguably true. And all statements obtainable this way form part of the raison d 'e1re of this series."

Survey on Classical Inequalities provides a study of some of the well known inequalities in classical mathematical analysis. Subjects dealt with include: Hardy-Littlewood-type inequalities, Hardy's and Carleman's inequalities, Lyapunov inequalities, Shannon's and related inequalities, generalized Shannon functional inequality, operator inequalities associated with Jensen's inequality, weighted Lp -norm inequalities in convolutions, inequalities for polynomial zeros as well as applications in a number of problems of pure and applied mathematics. It is my pleasure to express my appreciation to the distinguished mathematicians who contributed to this volume. Finally, we wish to acknowledge the superb assistance provided by the staff of Kluwer Academic Publishers. June 2000 Themistocles M. Rassias Vll LYAPUNOV INEQUALITIES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS RICHARD C. BROWN Department of Mathematics, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0350, USA. email address: [email protected] DON B. HINTON Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA. email address: [email protected] Abstract. For nearly 50 years Lyapunov inequalities have been an important tool in the study of differential equations. In this survey, building on an excellent 1991 historical survey by Cheng, we sketch some new developments in the theory of Lyapunov inequalities and present some recent disconjugacy results relating to second and higher order differential equations as well as Hamiltonian systems. 1. Introduction Lyapunov's inequality has proved useful in the study of spectral properties of ordinary differential equations. Typical applications include bounds for eigenvalues, stability criteria for periodic differential equations, and estimates for intervals of disconjugacy.