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General Variational Formulas

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Part of the book series: Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften ((GL,volume 310))

Abstract

In the first two chapters we have investigated the rate of change of variational integrals ℱ with respect to variations of the dependent variables. In particular, we have derived the necessary conditions

$$ \delta \mathcal{F}(u,\varphi ) = 0\quad for\;all\;\varphi \; \in \;C_c^\infty (\Omega ,{\mathbb{R}^\mathbb{N}})$$

and

$$ {L_F}(u) = 0$$

for extremizers u of ℱ, and suitable modifications of these conditions were shown to hold for constrained extremizers.

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References

  1. In honour of Emmy Noether; cf. 3, 3 and 3, 4.

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  2. Note that, by definition, weak extremals are of class C1. Later we shall admit weak extremals which are much less regular. Then the regularity theorem does not always hold.

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  3. It is throughout used in his celebrated lecture notes [1] Vol. 7; cf., in particular, pp. 107–108.

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  4. See the Supplement for the definition of K g . Compare also Bolza [3], p. 210.

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  5. Often, one adds the factor 1/2, cf. 2,4 3 math. We have dropped it to simplify the following formulas.

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  6. Cf. e.g. Courant-Hilbert [1–4].

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  7. To spare the reader any confusion, we have to remark that in the literature one often finds the notations δu =φ or δ*u = φ for the “variation of u with respect to fixed arguments”, and δu = δu + Du • δx or δu = δ*u + Du • δx for the “total” variation of u. Similarly, one finds ∂ℱ =Φ’(0) instead of the notation (8). Our notation has the advantage that it integrates the previous definition of ∂ℱ:

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  8. see 2 math of this section.

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  9. see 2 math of this section.

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  10. In his Königsberg lectures [4], pp. 198–211, elliptic coordinates in Rn are dealt with in full detail. For historical references, cf. Jacobi [3], Vol. 2, pp. 59–63.

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  11. For a presentation within the framework of differential geometry we refer the reader to the Supplement.

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  12. The convention about the sign of Δ is not uniform, many authors prefer the opposite sign.

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  13. An essay on the cohesion of fluids, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London 95, 65–87 (1805).

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  14. Mémoire sur la courbure des surfaces, Mém. de Math. Phys. (sav. etrang.) de l’Acad. 10 (1785), 447–550 (lu 1776).

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  15. (E385) Institutionum calculi integralis, Vol. 3, Petersburg 1770, appendix; cf. also: A. Kneser, Variationsrechnung, Enzykl. math. Wiss., Vol. 2.1, IIA8, pp. 575–576.

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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Giaquinta, M., Hildebrandt, S. (2004). General Variational Formulas. In: Calculus of Variations I. Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften, vol 310. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03278-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03278-7_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-08074-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-03278-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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