Collaborative Research: Numerical Methods for Fully and Implicitly Nonlinear Equations

该项目的主要目标是进一步研究完全非线性椭圆型方程的数值解，如Monge-Ampère？s，以扩展以前的工作与NSF资助DMS-0412267的支持下完成。这些以前的调查的主要结果是，在正则化的数据（这并不总是必要的），精心选择的最小二乘配方在适当的希尔伯特空间导致强大的解决方案的方法能够计算经典的解决方案，或广义的，如果经典的解决方案不存在。本项目的目标是：（i）提高用于解决最小二乘问题的迭代方法的性能。这将需要开发新的算法来解决从最小二乘问题的分解获得的许多（每个网格点一个）低维非线性本征值问题，因为这会导致一些小而复杂的约束本征值问题。(ii)为了证明这些新算法在各种测试问题上的有效性（Monge-Ampère，Pucci，高斯曲率，sigma-2，在2维，3维，甚至4维的Pucci问题，使用并行化）。(iii)为了确定是否显着的均匀化性质观察到在二维的一些这些完全非线性椭圆方程时，在运营商的系数在空间中周期性或随机变化持续在更高的维度。(iv)最终，采用上述方法（或它的接近变体）到从非光滑微分几何模型折叠现象的一些隐式非线性偏微分方程的解。激发这些研究的是完全非线性椭圆方程在材料科学、非线性弹性、流体力学、大气科学、非线性弹性、电气和结构工程中的形状设计（天线，汽车形状，？），金融，应用和理论物理，微分几何和其他。相关的数学问题已经产生了大量的文献。相比之下，这些问题的声誉是很难从计算的角度来解释为什么计算和应用数学家没有取得重大进展，他们的数值解。该项目的目标之一是缩小与完全非线性椭圆方程有关的各个社区之间的差距，以便每个社区都能相互学习，树立跨学科科学的榜样。这样的努力也将有利于科学和工程专业人员和学生，通过出版物，专门的网站和研究生课程，在会议上讲座，当然，一些研究生的直接参与。它还将激励其他科学家对这些重要领域作出贡献。由于主要研究人员及其同事以前开发的计算方法目前已用于科学和工程，学术界和工业的许多领域，因此可以预期该合作项目的结果和产品也会有类似的奋进。

The main goal of this project is to further investigate the numerical solution of fully nonlinear elliptic equations such as Monge-Ampère?s, in order to extend previous work done with the support of NSF Grant DMS-0412267. The main findings of these previous investigations are that, after regularization of the data (which is not always necessary), well-chosen least-squares formulations in appropriate Hilbert spaces lead to robust solution methods able to compute classical solutions, or generalized ones if classical solutions do not exist. The objectives of the present project are: (i) To improve the performances of the iterative methods used to solve the least-squares problems. This will require the development of novel algorithms to solve the many (one per grid point) low dimensional nonlinear eigenvalue problems obtained from the decomposition of the least squares problems, since this results in a number of small but intricate constrained eigenvalue problems. (ii) To demonstrate the effectiveness of these new algorithms on a variety of test problems (Monge-Ampère, Pucci, Gaussian curvature, sigma-2, in dimension 2, 3, and even 4 for the Pucci problem, using parallelization). (iii) To determine whether the remarkable homogenization properties observed in two-dimensions for some of these fully nonlinear elliptic equations when a coefficient in the operator varies periodically or randomly in space persist in higher dimensions. (iv) To apply, ultimately, the above methodology (or close variant of it) to the solution of some implicitly nonlinear partial differential equations from non-smooth differential geometry that model folding phenomena.What motivates these investigations is the fact that fully nonlinear elliptic equations play an important role in areas as diverse as material sciences, nonlinear elasticity, fluid mechanics, atmospheric sciences, nonlinear elasticity, shape design in electrical and structural engineering (antennas, car shape,?), finance, applied and theoretical physics, differential geometry and others. The related mathematical problems have generated a large literature. In contrast these problems have the reputation to be difficult from a computational standpoint explaining why the computational and applied mathematicians have not made significant progress on their numerical solution. One of the goals of this project is to close the gap between the various communities concerned with fully nonlinear elliptic equations so that each of them will learn from the others, setting an example of interdisciplinary science. Such an effort will also benefit science and engineering professionals and students, via publications, dedicated web sites and post-graduate courses, lectures at conferences, and of course direct involvement for some graduate students. It will also stimulate the contributions of other scientists to these important areas. Since computational methods developed previously by the Principal Investigators and their associates are currently used in many areas of Science and Engineering, Academia and Industry, one can expect a similar endeavor for the results and products originating from this collaborative project.