Nonlinear partial differential equations abound in modern physics. The problems arising in these fields lead to fascinating questions and, at the same time, progress in understanding the mathematical structures is of great importance to the models. Nevertheless, activity in one of the approaches is not always sufficiently in touch with developments in the other field. The book presents the joint efforts of mathematicians and physicists involved in modelling reactive flows, in particular superconductivity and superfluidity. Certain contributions are fundamental to an understanding of such cutting-edge research topics as rotating Bose-Einstein condensates, Kolmogorov-Zakharov solutions for weak turbulence equations, and the propagation of fronts in heterogeneous media.

Haim Brezis has made significant contributions in the fields of partial differential equations and functional analysis, and this volume collects contributions by his former students and collaborators in honor of his 60th anniversary at a conference in Gaeta. It presents new developments in the theory of partial differential equations with emphasis on elliptic and parabolic problems.

In the framework of the "Annee non lineaire" (the special nonlinear year) sponsored by the C.N.R.S. (the French National Center for Scien tific Research), a meeting was held in Paris in June 1988. It took place in the Conference Hall of the Ministere de la Recherche and had as an organizing theme the topic of "Variational Problems." Nonlinear analysis has been one of the leading themes in mathemat ical research for the past decade. The use of direct variational methods has been particularly successful in understanding problems arising from physics and geometry. The growth of nonlinear analysis is largely due to the wealth of ap plications from various domains of sciences and industrial applica tions. Most of the papers gathered in this volume have their origin in applications: from mechanics, the study of Hamiltonian systems, from physics, from the recent mathematical theory of liquid crystals, from geometry, relativity, etc. Clearly, no single volume could pretend to cover the whole scope of nonlinear variational problems. We have chosen to concentrate on three main aspects of these problems, organizing them roughly around the following topics: 1. Variational methods in partial differential equations in mathemat ical physics 2. Variational problems in geometry 3. Hamiltonian systems and related topics."

Nonlinear partial differential equations abound in modern physics. The problems arising in these fields lead to fascinating questions and, at the same time, progress in understanding the mathematical structures is of great importance to the models. Nevertheless, activity in one of the approaches is not always sufficiently in touch with developments in the other field. The book presents the joint efforts of mathematicians and physicists involved in modelling reactive flows, in particular superconductivity and superfluidity. Certain contributions are fundamental to an understanding of such cutting-edge research topics as rotating Bose-Einstein condensates, Kolmogorov-Zakharov solutions for weak turbulence equations, and the propagation of fronts in heterogeneous media.

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