Geometric Measure Theory And Free Boundary Problems

This volume covers contemporary aspects of geometric measure theory with a focus on applications to partial differential equations, free boundary problems and water waves. It is based on lectures given at the 2019 CIME summer school “Geometric Measure Theory and Applications – From Geometric Analysis to Free Boundary Problems” which took place in Cetraro, Italy, under the scientific direction of Matteo Focardi and Emanuele Spadaro. Providing a description of the structure of measures satisfying certain differential constraints, and covering regularity theory for Bernoulli type free boundary problems and water waves as well as regularity theory for the obstacle problems and the developments leading to applications to the Stefan problem, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers in mathematical analysis and its applications.

We hope that the tools and ideas presented here will serve as a basis for the study of more complex phenomena and problems."--Jacket.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to modern techniques in the study of free boundary problems of diffusive type. Applications of such methods are thoroughly explained by emblematic examples of the theory and several geometric ideas and insights are carefully discussed, making the text both accessible and appealing to a broad readership working in partial differential equations, calculus of variations, and geometric analysis.

Many phenomena of interest for applications are represented by differential equations which are defined in a domain whose boundary is a priori unknown, and is accordingly named a "free boundary". A further quantitative condition is then provided in order to exclude indeterminacy. Free boundary problems thus encompass a broad spectrum which is represented in this state-of-the-art volume by a variety of contributions of researchers in mathematics and applied fields like physics, biology and material sciences. Special emphasis has been reserved for mathematical modelling and for the formulation of new problems.

Free boundary problems arise in an enormous number of situations in nature and technology. They hold a strategic position in pure and applied sciences and thus have been the focus of considerable research over the last three decades. Free Boundary Problems: Theory and Applications presents the work and results of experts at the forefront of current research in mathematics, material sciences, chemical engineering, biology, and physics. It contains the plenary lectures and contributed papers of the 1997 International Interdisciplinary Congress proceedings held in Crete. The main topics addressed include free boundary problems in fluid and solid mechanics, combustion, the theory of filtration, and glaciology. Contributors also discuss material science modeling, recent mathematical developments, and numerical analysis advances within their presentations of more specific topics, such as singularities of interfaces, cusp cavitation and fracture, capillary fluid dynamics of film coating, dynamics of surface growth, phase transition kinetics, and phase field models. With the implications of free boundary problems so far reaching, it becomes important for researchers from all of these fields to stay abreast of new developments. Free Boundary Problems: Theory and Applications provides the opportunity to do just that, presenting recent advances from more than 50 researchers at the frontiers of science, mathematics, and technology.