Daniele Funaro – författare

With an opinionated and irreverent tone, the author debunks most of the current theories in the field of modern physics, appealing to the scientific method and common sense. At the same time, in strict compliance with the already known experimental evidence, he proposes his own version of the facts, aimed at rationalizing and unifying the various aspects in which the nature that surrounds us manifests itself. The result is a possible model of the universe where events are all connected by a common thread, even if distributed on different scales, ranging from the subatomic to that of galaxies. In this perspective, in the middle, the living cell profits from a substrate and a habitat that have favoured its very existence. Reading of this book does not require any advanced scientific knowledge and is therefore accessible to non-experts, provided they are equipped with the necessary dose of eccentricity that allows them to appreciate these provocative pages.

The book deals with the numerical approximation of various PDEs using the spectral element method, with particular emphasis for elliptic equations dominated by first-order terms. It provides a simple introduction to spectral elements with additional new tools (upwind grids and preconditioners). Applications to fluid dynamics and semiconductor devices are considered, as well as in other models were transport-diffusion equations arise. The aim is to provide the reader with both introductive and more advanced material on spectral Legendre collocation methods. The book however does not cover all the aspects of spectral methods. Engineers, physicists and applied mathematicians may study how to implement the collocation method and use the results to improve their computational codes.

This book is devoted to the analysis of approximate solution techniques for differential equations, based on classical orthogonal polynomials. These techniques are popularly known as spectral methods. In the last few decades, there has been a growing interest in this subject. As a matter offact, spectral methods provide a competitive alternative to other standard approximation techniques, for a large variety of problems. Initial ap­ plications were concerned with the investigation of periodic solutions of boundary value problems using trigonometric polynomials. Subsequently, the analysis was extended to algebraic polynomials. Expansions in orthogonal basis functions were preferred, due to their high accuracy and flexibility in computations. The aim of this book is to present a preliminary mathematical background for be­ ginners who wish to study and perform numerical experiments, or who wish to improve their skill in order to tackle more specific applications. In addition, it furnishes a com­ prehensive collection of basic formulas and theorems that are useful for implementations at any level of complexity. We tried to maintain an elementary exposition so that no experience in functional analysis is required.

Motivated by a revision of the classical equations of electromagnetism that allow for the inclusion of solitary waves in the solution space, the material collected in this book examines the consequences of adopting the modified model in the description of atomic structures. The possibility of handling "photons" in a deterministic way indeed gives a chance to review the foundations of quantum physics. Atoms and molecules are described as aggregations of nuclei and electrons joined through organized photon layers resonating at various frequencies, explaining how matter can absorb or emit light quanta. Some established viewpoints are subverted, offering an alternative scenario. The analysis seeks to provide an answer to many technical problems in physical chemistry and, at the same time, to raise epistemological questions.