Michael Struwe – författare

This book is meant to give an account of recent developments in the theory of Plateau's problem for parametric minimal surfaces and surfaces of prescribed constant mean curvature ("H-surfaces") and its analytical framework. A comprehensive overview of the classical existence and regularity theory for disc-type minimal and H-surfaces is given and recent advances toward general structure theorems concerning the existence of multiple solutions are explored in full detail. The book focuses on the author's derivation of the Morse-inequalities and in particular the mountain-pass-lemma of Morse-Tompkins and Shiffman for minimal surfaces and the proof of the existence of large (unstable) H-surfaces (Rellich's conjecture) due to Brezis-Coron, Steffen, and the author. Many related results are covered as well. More than the geometric aspects of Plateau's problem (which have been exhaustively covered elsewhere), the author stresses the analytic side. The emphasis lies on the variational method. Originally published in 1989.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.

This book is meant to give an account of recent developments in the theory of Plateau's problem for parametric minimal surfaces and surfaces of prescribed constant mean curvature ("H-surfaces") and its analytical framework. A comprehensive overview of the classical existence and regularity theory for disc-type minimal and H-surfaces is given and recent advances toward general structure theorems concerning the existence of multiple solutions are explored in full detail. The book focuses on the author's derivation of the Morse-inequalities and in particular the mountain-pass-lemma of Morse-Tompkins and Shiffman for minimal surfaces and the proof of the existence of large (unstable) H-surfaces (Rellich's conjecture) due to Brezis-Coron, Steffen, and the author. Many related results are covered as well. More than the geometric aspects of Plateau's problem (which have been exhaustively covered elsewhere), the author stresses the analytic side. The emphasis lies on the variational method. Originally published in 1989.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.

This book is meant to give an account of recent developments in the theory of Plateau's problem for parametric minimal surfaces and surfaces of prescribed constant mean curvature ("e;H-surfaces"e;) and its analytical framework. A comprehensive overview of the classical existence and regularity theory for disc-type minimal and H-surfaces is given and recent advances toward general structure theorems concerning the existence of multiple solutions are explored in full detail.The book focuses on the author's derivation of the Morse-inequalities and in particular the mountain-pass-lemma of Morse-Tompkins and Shiffman for minimal surfaces and the proof of the existence of large (unstable) H-surfaces (Rellich's conjecture) due to Brezis-Coron, Steffen, and the author. Many related results are covered as well. More than the geometric aspects of Plateau's problem (which have been exhaustively covered elsewhere), the author stresses the analytic side. The emphasis lies on the variational method.Originally published in 1989.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.

Hilbert's talk at the second International Congress of 1900 in Paris marked the beginning of a new era in the calculus of variations. A development began which, within a few decades, brought tremendous success, highlighted by the 1929 theorem of Ljusternik and Schnirelman on the existence of three distinct prime closed geodesics on any compact surface of genus zero, and the 1930/31 solution of Plateau's problem by Douglas and Radó. The book gives a concise introduction to variational methods and presents an overview of areas of current research in the field. The fourth edition gives a survey on new developments in the field. In particular it includes the proof for the convergence of the Yamabe flow and a detailed treatment of the phenomenon of blow-up. Also the recently discovered results for backward bubbling in the heat flow for harmonic maps or surfaces are discussed. Aside from these more significant additions, a number of smaller changes throughout the text have been made and the references have been updated.

Hilbert's talk at the second International Congress of 1900 in Paris marked the beginning of a new era in the calculus of variations. A development began which, within a few decades, brought tremendous success, highlighted by the 1929 theorem of Ljusternik and Schnirelman on the existence of three distinct prime closed geodesics on any compact surface of genus zero, and the 1930/31 solution of Plateau's problem by Douglas and Radó. The book gives a concise introduction to variational methods and presents an overview of areas of current research in the field. The fourth edition gives a survey on new developments in the field. In particular it includes the proof for the convergence of the Yamabe flow and a detailed treatment of the phenomenon of blow-up. Also the recently discovered results for backward bubbling in the heat flow for harmonic maps or surfaces are discussed. Aside from these more significant additions, a number of smaller changes throughout the text have been made and the references have been updated.

It would be hopeless to attempt to give a complete account of the history of the calculus of variations. The interest of Greek philosophers in isoperimetric problems underscores the importance of "optimal form" in ancient cultures, see Hildebrandt-Tromba [1] for a beautiful treatise of this subject. While variatio­ nal problems thus are part of our classical cultural heritage, the first modern treatment of a variational problem is attributed to Fermat (see Goldstine [1; p.l]). Postulating that light follows a path of least possible time, in 1662 Fer­ mat was able to derive the laws of refraction, thereby using methods which may already be termed analytic. With the development of the Calculus by Newton and Leibniz, the basis was laid for a more systematic development of the calculus of variations. The brothers Johann and Jakob Bernoulli and Johann''s student Leonhard Euler, all from the city of Basel in Switzerland, were to become the "founding fathers" (Hildebrandt-Tromba [1; p.21]) of this new discipline. In 1743 Euler [1] sub­ mitted "A method for finding curves enjoying certain maximum or minimum properties", published 1744, the first textbook on the calculus of variations.

Hilbert''s talk at the second International Congress of 1900 in Paris marked the beginning of a new era in the calculus of variations. A development began which, within a few decades, brought tremendous success, highlighted by the 1929 theorem of Ljusternik and Schnirelman on the existence of three distinct prime closed geodesics on any compact surface of genus zero, and the 1930/31 solution of Plateau''s problem by Douglas and Radò. The book gives a concise introduction to variational methods and presents an overview of areas of current research in this field. This new edition has been substantially enlarged, a new chapter on the Yamabe problem has been added and the references have been updated. All topics are illustrated by carefully chosen examples, representing the current state of the art in their field.