Bernold Fiedler - Böcker

This largely self-contained research monograph addresses the following type of questions. Suppose one encounters a continuous time dynamical system with some built-in symmetry. Should one expect periodic motions which somehow reflect this symmetry? And how would periodicity harmonize with symmetry? Probing into these questions leads from dynamics to topology, algebra, singularity theory, and to many applications. Within a global approach, the emphasis is on periodic motions far from equilibrium. Mathematical methods include bifurcation theory, transversality theory, and generic approximations. A new homotopy invariant is designed to study the global interdependence of symmetric periodic motions. Besides mathematical techniques, the book contains 5 largely nontechnical chapters. The first three outline the main questions, results and methods. A detailed discussion pursues theoretical consequences and open problems. Results are illustrated by a variety of applications including coupled oscillators and rotating waves: these links to such disciplines as theoretical biology, chemistry, fluid dynamics, physics and their engineering counterparts make the book directly accessible to a wider audience.

This book summarizes and highlights progress in our understanding of Dy­ namical Systems during six years of the German Priority Research Program "Ergodic Theory, Analysis, and Efficient Simulation of Dynamical Systems" . The program was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and aimed at combining, focussing, and enhancing research efforts of active groups in the field by cooperation on a federal level. The surveys in the book are addressed to experts and non-experts in the mathematical community alike. In addition they intend to convey the significance of the results for applications far into the neighboring disciplines of Science. Three fundamental topics in Dynamical Systems are at the core of our research effort: behavior for large time dimension measure, and chaos Each of these topics is, of course, a highly complex problem area in itself and does not fit naturally into the deplorably traditional confines of any of the disciplines of ergodic theory, analysis, or numerical analysis alone. The necessity of mathematical cooperation between these three disciplines is quite obvious when facing the formidahle task of establishing a bidirectional transfer which bridges the gap between deep, detailed theoretical insight and relevant, specific applications. Both analysis and numerical analysis playa key role when it comes to huilding that bridge. Some steps of our joint bridging efforts are collected in this volume. Neither our approach nor the presentations in this volume are monolithic.

This book is a compilation of high quality papers focussing on five major areas of active development in the wide field of differential equations: dynamical systems, infinite dimensions, global attractors and stability, computational aspects, and applications. It is a valuable reference for researchers in diverse disciplines, ranging from mathematics through physics, engineering, chemistry, nonlinear science to the life sciences.