Catherine Bandle - Böcker

It addresses classical inequalities related to means or to convexity as well as inequalities arising in the field of ordinary and partial differential equations, like Sobolev or Hardy-type inequalities, and inequalities occurring in geometrical contexts.

Inequalities arise as an essential component in various mathematical areas. Besides forming a highly important collection of tools, e.g. for proving analytic or stochastic theorems or for deriving error estimates in numerical mathematics, they constitute a challenging research field of their own. Inequalities also appear directly in mathematical models for applications in science, engineering, and economics.  This edited volume covers divers aspects of this fascinating field. It addresses classical inequalities related to means or to convexity as well as inequalities arising in the field of ordinary and partial differential equations, like Sobolev or Hardy-type inequalities, and inequalities occurring in geometrical contexts. Within the last five decades, the late Wolfgang Walter has made great contributions to the field of inequalities. His book on differential and integral inequalities was a real breakthrough in the 1970’s and has generated a vast variety of further research in this field. He also organized six of the seven “General Inequalities” Conferences held at Oberwolfach between 1976 and 1995, and co-edited their proceedings. He participated as an honorary member of the Scientific Committee in the “General Inequalities 8” conference in Hungary. As a recognition of his great achievements, this volume is dedicated to Wolfgang Walter’s memory. The “General Inequalities” meetings found their continuation in the “Conferences on Inequalities and Applications” which, so far, have been held twice in Hungary. This volume contains selected contributions of participants of the second conference which took place in Hajdúszoboszló in September 2010, as well as additional articles written upon invitation. These contributions reflect many theoretical and practical aspects in the field of inequalities, and will be useful for researchers and lecturers,as well as for students who want to familiarize themselves with the area.

Inequalities continue to play an essential role in mathematics. The subject is per­ haps the last field that is comprehended and used by mathematicians working in all the areas of the discipline of mathematics. Since the seminal work Inequalities (1934) of Hardy, Littlewood and P6lya mathematicians have laboured to extend and sharpen the earlier classical inequalities. New inequalities are discovered ev­ ery year, some for their intrinsic interest whilst others flow from results obtained in various branches of mathematics. So extensive are these developments that a new mathematical periodical devoted exclusively to inequalities will soon appear; this is the Journal of Inequalities and Applications, to be edited by R. P. Agar­ wal. Nowadays it is difficult to follow all these developments and because of lack of communication between different groups of specialists many results are often rediscovered several times. Surveys of the present state of the art are therefore in­ dispensable not only to mathematicians but to the scientific community at large. The study of inequalities reflects the many and various aspects of mathemat­ ics. There is on the one hand the systematic search for the basic principles and the study of inequalities for their own sake. On the other hand the subject is a source of ingenious ideas and methods that give rise to seemingly elementary but nevertheless serious and challenging problems. There are many applications in a wide variety of fields from mathematical physics to biology and economics.

This book investigates how domain dependent quantities from geometry and physics behave when the domain is perturbed. Of particular interest are volume- and perimeter-preserving perturbations. The first and second derivatives with respect to the perturbation are exploited for domain functionals like eigenvalues, energies and geometrical quantities. They provide necessary conditions for optimal domains and are useful when global approaches like symmetrizations fail. The book is exampledriven and illustrates the usefulness of domain variations in various applications.

The field of inequalities is probably the last used by mathematicians in all areas of the discipline. New ones are discovered each year, and some of these come from results obtained in many branches of mathematics, and so the study of inequalities reflects the many aspects of mathematics. There are numerous applications in a variety of fields, from mathematical physics to biology and economics, and this volume not only contains the latest results, but is also a relevant reference for lecturers and researchers.

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.