A Course in the Calculus of Variations

Beschreibung

This book provides an introduction to the broad topic of the calculus of variations. It addresses the most natural questions on variational problems and the mathematical complexities they present.
Beginning with the scientific modeling that motivates the subject, the book then tackles mathematical questions such as the existence and uniqueness of solutions, their characterization in terms of partial differential equations, and their regularity. It includes both classical and recent results on one-dimensional variational problems, as well as the adaptation to the multi-dimensional case. Here, convexity plays an important role in establishing semi-continuity results and connections with techniques from optimization, and convex duality is even used to produce regularity results. This is then followed by the more classical Hölder regularity theory for elliptic PDEs and some geometric variational problems on sets, including the isoperimetric inequality and the Steiner tree problem. The book concludes with a chapter on the limits of sequences of variational problems, expressed in terms of Γ-convergence.
While primarily designed for master's-level and advanced courses, this textbook, based on its author's instructional experience, also offers original insights that may be of interest to PhD students and researchers. A foundational understanding of measure theory and functional analysis is required, but all the essential concepts are reiterated throughout the book using special memo-boxes.
This book provides an introduction to the broad topic of the calculus of variations. It addresses the most natural questions on variational problems and the mathematical complexities they present.
Beginning with the scientific modeling that motivates the subject, the book then tackles mathematical questions such as the existence and uniqueness of solutions, their characterization in terms of partial differential equations, and their regularity. It includes both classical and recent results on one-dimensional variational problems, as well as the adaptation to the multi-dimensional case. Here, convexity plays an important role in establishing semi-continuity results and connections with techniques from optimization, and convex duality is even used to produce regularity results. This is then followed by the more classical Hölder regularity theory for elliptic PDEs and some geometric variational problems on sets, including the isoperimetric inequality andthe Steiner tree problem. The book concludes with a chapter on the limits of sequences of variational problems, expressed in terms of Γ-convergence.
While primarily designed for master's-level and advanced courses, this textbook, based on its author's instructional experience, also offers original insights that may be of interest to PhD students and researchers. A foundational understanding of measure theory and functional analysis is required, but all the essential concepts are reiterated throughout the book using special memo-boxes.
Inspired by scientific modeling in physical as well as decision sciences Applies convex duality to the calculus of variations, including to regularity theory Includes over a hundred exercises, with hints

Autor*in

Filippo Santambrogio

Themen in »A Course in the Calculus of Variations«

textbook on calculus of variations Euler-Lagrange equations Geodesic and optimal curves Lower semicontinuity of integral functionals Convex duality Elliptic regularity Geometric variational problems for sets Variational convergence Partial Differential Equations

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“The book is accessible to a wide audience, ranging from Ph.D. students to senior researchers. … This book, due to its breadth in covering many important topics in modern variational analysis, can serve as an excellent source of inspiration for a course on the calculus of variations, particularly one focused on applications.” (Pietro Celada, Mathematical Reviews, August, 2025) 

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