Sandro Salsa

This is a book on optimal control problems (OCPs) for partial differential equations (PDEs) that evolved from a series of courses taught by the authors in the last few years at Politecnico di Milano, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The book covers the whole range spanning from the setup and the rigorous theoretical analysis of OCPs, the derivation of the system of optimality conditions, the proposition of suitable numerical methods, their formulation, their analysis, including their application to a broad set of problems of practical relevance.The first introductory chapter addresses a handful of representative OCPs and presents an overview of the associated mathematical issues. The rest of the book is organized into three parts: part I provides preliminary concepts of OCPs for algebraic and dynamical systems; part II addresses OCPs involving linear PDEs (mostly elliptic and parabolic type) and quadratic cost functions; part III deals with more general classes ofOCPs that stand behind the advanced applications mentioned above.Starting from simple problems that allow a “hands-on” treatment, the reader is progressively led to a general framework suitable to face a broader class of problems. Moreover, the inclusion of many pseudocodes allows the reader to easily implement the algorithms illustrated throughout the text.The three parts of the book are suitable to readers with variable mathematical backgrounds, from advanced undergraduate to Ph.D. levels and beyond. We believe that applied mathematicians, computational scientists, and engineers may find this book useful for a constructive approach toward the solution of OCPs in the context of complex applications.

This work is an updated version of a book evolved from courses offered on partial differential equations (PDEs) over the last several years at the Politecnico di Milano. These courses had a twofold purpose: on the one hand, to teach students to appreciate the interplay between theory and modeling in problems arising in the applied sciences, and on the other to provide them with a solid theoretical background for numerical methods, such as finite elements. Accordingly, this textbook is divided into two parts. The first part, chapters 2 to 5, is more elementary in nature and focuses on developing and studying basic problems from the macro-areas of diffusion, propagation and transport, waves and vibrations. In the second part, chapters 6 to 10 concentrate on the development of Hilbert spaces methods for the variational formulation and the analysis of (mainly) linear boundary and initial-boundary value problems, while Chapter 11 deals with vector-valued conservation laws, extending the theory developed in Chapter 4. The main differences with respect to the previous editions are: a new section on reaction diffusion models for population dynamics in a heterogeneous environment; several new exercises in almost all chapters; a general restyling and a reordering of the last chapters. The book is intended as an advanced undergraduate or first-year graduate course for students from various disciplines, including applied mathematics, physics and engineering.

This is a book on optimal control problems (OCPs) for partial differential equations (PDEs) that evolved from a series of courses taught by the authors in the last few years at Politecnico di Milano, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The book covers the whole range spanning from the setup and the rigorous theoretical analysis of OCPs, the derivation of the system of optimality conditions, the proposition of suitable numerical methods, their formulation, their analysis, including their application to a broad set of problems of practical relevance.The first introductory chapter addresses a handful of representative OCPs and presents an overview of the associated mathematical issues. The rest of the book is organized into three parts: part I provides preliminary concepts of OCPs for algebraic and dynamical systems; part II addresses OCPs involving linear PDEs (mostly elliptic and parabolic type) and quadratic cost functions; part III deals with more general classes ofOCPs that stand behind the advanced applications mentioned above.Starting from simple problems that allow a “hands-on” treatment, the reader is progressively led to a general framework suitable to face a broader class of problems. Moreover, the inclusion of many pseudocodes allows the reader to easily implement the algorithms illustrated throughout the text.The three parts of the book are suitable to readers with variable mathematical backgrounds, from advanced undergraduate to Ph.D. levels and beyond. We believe that applied mathematicians, computational scientists, and engineers may find this book useful for a constructive approach toward the solution of OCPs in the context of complex applications.

This textbook is tailored for those educational programs, such as Economics and Management, that include an introductory (and frequently the only) course in Mathematics. The volume focuses on a number of selected, fundamental topics: the knowledge of Calculus, for functions of one and two variables; the use of Calculus in optimization; the notion of integral for functions of one variable; the language and the elementary techniques of Linear Algebra; the basics of Financial Calculus. Several preliminary examples from applied sciences (mainly from Economics) introduce the theoretical aspects. An excessive formalism is avoided, in order to quickly reach the fundamental concepts. Mybook contains the solutions to the end-of-chapter exercises.

Il testo costituisce una introduzione alla teoria delle equazioni a derivate parziali, strutturata in modo da abituare il lettore ad una sinergia tra modellistica e aspetti teorici. La prima parte riguarda le più note equazioni della fisica-matematica, idealmente raggruppate nelle tre macro-aree diffusione, propagazione e trasporto, onde e vibrazioni. Nella seconda parte si presenta la formulazione variazionale dei principali problemi iniziali e/o al bordo e la loro analisi con i metodi dell'Analisi Funzionale negli spazi di Hilbert.

This textbook presents problems and exercises at various levels of difficulty in the following areas: Classical Methods in PDEs (diffusion, waves, transport, potential equations); Basic Functional Analysis and Distribution Theory; Variational Formulation of Elliptic Problems; and Weak Formulation for Parabolic Problems and for the Wave Equation. Thanks to the broad variety of exercises with complete solutions, it can be used in all basic and advanced PDE courses.

This book is designed as an advanced undergraduate or a first-year graduate course for students from various disciplines like applied mathematics, physics, engineering. It has evolved while teaching courses on partial differential equations during the last decade at the Politecnico of Milan. The main purpose of these courses was twofold: on the one hand, to train the students to appreciate the interplay between theory and modelling in problems arising in the applied sciences and on the other hand to give them a solid background for numerical methods, such as finite differences and finite elements.

The issue of regularity has played a central role in the theory of Partial Differential Equations almost since its inception, and despite the tremendous advances made it still remains a very fruitful research field. In particular considerable strides have been made in regularity estimates for degenerate and singular elliptic and parabolic equations over the last several years, and in many unexpected and challenging directions. Because of all these recent results, it seemed high time to create an overview that would highlight emerging trends and issues in this fascinating research topic in a proper and effective way. The course aimed to show the deep connections between these topics and to open new research directions through the contributions of leading experts in all of these fields.

This book is designed as an advanced undergraduate or a first-year graduate course for students from various disciplines. The main purpose is on the one hand to train students to appreciate the interplay between theory and modeling in problems arising in the applied sciences, and on the other hand to give them a solid theoretical background for numerical methods. At the end of each chapter, a number of exercises at different level of complexity is included

Il testo è rivolto a studenti di ingegneria, matematica applicata e fisica ed è disegnato per corsi alle fine del triennio o all'inizio del biennio magistrale. obiettivo didattico è duplice: da un lato presentare ed analizzare alcuni classici modelli differenziali della Meccanica dei Continui, completati da esercizi svolti e da simulazioni numeriche, illustrate usando il metodo delle differenze finite; dall'altro introdurre la formulazione variazionale dei più importanti problemi iniziali/al bordo, accompagnate da simulazioni numeriche effettuate utilizzando il metodo degli elementi finiti. In ultima analisi, il percorso didattico è caratterizzato da una costante sinergia tra modello-teoria-simulazione numerica.

Describes the properties of harmonic and caloric measures in Lipschitz domains, a relation between parallel surfaces and elliptic equations, monotonicity formulas and rigidity. This book is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in partial differential equations.