1. 1 A paradigm About one hundred years ago, Maurice Couette, a French physicist, de- signed an apparatus consisting of two coaxial cylinders, the space between the cylinders being filled with a viscous fluid and the outer cylinder being rotated at angular velocity O2. The purpose of this experiment was, follow- ing an idea of the Austrian physicist Max Margules, to deduce the viscosity of the fluid from measurements of the torque exerted by the fluid on the inner cylinder (the fluid is assumed to adhere to the walls of the cylinders). At least when O is not too large, the fluid flow is...

In its most general form bifurcation theory is a theory of asymptotic solutions of nonlinear equations. By asymptotic solutions we mean, for example, steady solutions, time-periodic solutions, and quasi-periodic solutions. The purpose of this book is to teach the theory of bifurcation of asymptotic solutions of evolution problems governed by nonlinear differential equations. We have written this book for the broadest audience of potentially interested learners: engineers, biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, economists, and others whose work involves understanding asymptotic...

The International Society for the Interaction of Mechanics and Mathematics has a long-standing and respected tradition of hosting symposia that provide a forum for disseminating new developments and methods. Trends in Applications of Mathematics to Mechanics represents the proceedings of the eleventh such symposium, held at the University of Nice in May 1998.
Comprising invited lectures and refereed papers, this volume includes recent results that open perspectives on fields in mechanics and their methodological counterparts in mathematics. It also surveys important advances in the areas...

This textbook presents the most efficient analytical techniques in the local bifurcation theory of vector fields. It is centered on the theory of normal forms and its applications, including interaction with symmetries.The first part of the book reviews the center manifold reduction and introduces normal forms (with complete proofs). Basic bifurcations are studied together with bifurcations in the presence of symmetries. Special attention is given to examples with reversible vector fields, including the physical example given by the water waves. In this second edition, many problems with...

Discoveries of chaotic, unpredictable behaviour in physical deterministic systems has brought about new analytic and experimental techniques in dynamics. The modern study of the new phenomena requires the analyst to become familiar with experiments (at least with numerical ones), since chaotic solutions cannot be written down, and it requires the experimenter to master the new concepts of the theory of nonlinear dynamical systems. This book is unique in that it presents both viewpoints: the viewpoint of the analyst and of the experimenter. In the first part F. Moon outlines the new...

Starting with the simplest bifurcation problems arising for ordinary differential equations in one- and two-dimensions, this book describes several tools from the theory of infinite dimensional dynamical systems, allowing the reader to treat more complicated bifurcation problems, such as bifurcations arising in partial differential equations.

1. 1 A paradigm About one hundred years ago, Maurice Couette, a French physicist, de- signed an apparatus consisting of two coaxial cylinders, the space between the cylinders being filled with a viscous fluid and the outer cylinder being rotated at angular velocity O2. The purpose of this experiment was, follow- ing an idea of the Austrian physicist Max Margules, to deduce the viscosity of the fluid from measurements of the torque exerted by the fluid on the inner cylinder (the fluid is assumed to adhere to the walls of the cylinders). At least when O is not too large, the fluid flow is...

This substantially revised second edition teaches the bifurcation of asymptotic solutions to evolution problems governed by nonlinear differential equations. Written not just for mathematicians, it appeals to the widest audience of learners, including engineers, biologists, chemists, physicists and economists. For this reason, it uses only well-known methods of classical analysis at foundation level, while the applications and examples are specially chosen to be as varied as possible.