The study of dynamical systems is a well established field. Having given graduate-level courses on the subject for many years, the authors have now written this book to provide a panorama of the aspects that are of interest to mathematicians and physicists alike.

Avoiding belaboured proofs, the exposition concentrates instead on abundant illustrations and examples, while still retaining sufficient mathematical precision. Besides the standard topics of the field, questions of physical measurement and stochastic properties of chaotic dynamical systems are given much attention.

The study of dynamical systems is a well established field. This book provides a panorama of several aspects of interest to mathematicians and physicists. It collects the material of several courses at the graduate level given by the authors, avoiding detailed proofs in exchange for numerous illustrations and examples. Apart from common subjects in this field, a lot of attention is given to questions of physical measurement and stochastic properties of chaotic dynamical systems.

Since the predecessor to this volume (LNM 1186, Eds. L. Arnold, V. Wihstutz)appeared in 1986, significant progress has been made in the theory and applications of Lyapunov exponents - one of the key concepts of dynamical systems - and in particular, pronounced shifts towards nonlinear and infinite-dimensional systems and engineering applications are observable. This volume opens with an introductory survey article (Arnold/Crauel) followed by 26 original (fully refereed) research papers, some of which have in part survey character. From the Contents: L. Arnold, H. Crauel: Random Dynamical Systems.- I.Ya. Goldscheid: Lyapunov exponents and asymptotic behaviour of the product of random matrices.- Y. Peres: Analytic dependence of Lyapunov exponents on transition probabilities.- O. Knill: The upper Lyapunov exponent of Sl (2, R) cocycles: Discontinuity and the problem of positivity.- Yu.D. Latushkin, A.M. Stepin: Linear skew-product flows and semigroups of weighted composition operators.- P. Baxendale: Invariant measures for nonlinear stochastic differential equations.- Y. Kifer: Large deviationsfor random expanding maps.- P. Thieullen: Generalisation du theoreme de Pesin pour l' -entropie.- S.T. Ariaratnam, W.-C. Xie: Lyapunov exponents in stochastic structural mechanics.- F. Colonius, W. Kliemann: Lyapunov exponents of control flows.

The physics of extended systems is a topic of great interest for the experimentalist and the theoretician alike. There exists a large literature on this subject in which solutions, bifurcations, fronts, and the dynamical stability of these objects are discussed. To the uninitiated reader, the theoretical methods that lead to the various results often seem somewhat ad hoc, and it is not clear how to generalize them to the nextthat is, not yet solvedproblem. In an introduction to the subject of instabilities in spatially infinite systems, Pierre Collet and Jean-Pierre Eckmann aim to give a systematic account of these methods, and to work out the relevant features that make them operational. The book examines in detail a number of model equations from physics. The mathematical developments of the subject are based on bifurcation theory and on the theory of invariant manifolds. These are combined to give a coherent description of several problems in which instabilities occur, notably the Eckhaus instability and the formation of fronts in the Swift-Hohenberg equation. These phenomena can appear only in infinite systems, and this book breaks new ground as a systematic account of the mathematics connected with infinite space domains. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The physics of extended systems is a topic of great interest for the experimentalist and the theoretician alike. There exists a large literature on this subject in which solutions, bifurcations, fronts, and the dynamical stability of these objects are discussed. To the uninitiated reader, the theoretical methods that lead to the various results often seem somewhat ad hoc, and it is not clear how to generalize them to the nextthat is, not yet solvedproblem. In an introduction to the subject of instabilities in spatially infinite systems, Pierre Collet and Jean-Pierre Eckmann aim to give a systematic account of these methods, and to work out the relevant features that make them operational. The book examines in detail a number of model equations from physics. The mathematical developments of the subject are based on bifurcation theory and on the theory of invariant manifolds. These are combined to give a coherent description of several problems in which instabilities occur, notably the Eckhaus instability and the formation of fronts in the Swift-Hohenberg equation. These phenomena can appear only in infinite systems, and this book breaks new ground as a systematic account of the mathematics connected with infinite space domains.

Originally published in 1990.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.