Functionals involving both volume and surface energies have a number of applications ranging from Computer Vision to Fracture Mechanics. In order to tackle numerical and dynamical problems linked to such functionals many approximations by functionals defined on smooth functions have been proposed (using high-order singular perturbations, finite-difference or non-local energies, etc.) The purpose of this book is to present a global approach to these approximations using the theory of gamma-convergence and of special functions of bounded variation. The book is directed to PhD students and...

The study of variational problems showing multi-scale behaviour with oscillation or concentration phenomena is a challenging topic of very active research. This volume collects lecture notes on the asymptotic analysis of such problems when multi-scale behaviour derives from scale separation in the passage from atomistic systems to continuous functionals, from competition between bulk and surface energies, from various types of homogenization processes, and on concentration effects in Ginzburg-Landau energies and in subcritical growth problems.