Variational Methods

Michael Struwe is full Professor of Mathematics at ETH Zurich. Prof. Struwe was born on October 6, 1955 in Wuppertal, Germany. He studied mathematics at the University of Bonn. After receiving his doctorate in 1980, he was a member of the scientific staff in the special research sector 72 of the German research foundation and later an assistant at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Bonn. He spent extended research visits in Paris and at the ETH Zurich. In 1984 he was awarded the Felix Hausdorff Prize of the University of Bonn. On April 1, 1986 Michael Struwe was appointed assistant professor, on October 1, 1990 associate professor and in 1993 he became full Professor of Mathematics at the ETH Zurich. From October, 2002 to September, 2004 he served as head of the ETH Mathematics Department. His research focuses on non-linear partial differential equations and the calculus of variations as well as their applications in mathematical physics and differential geometry. In 2006 he received the Credit Suisse Award For Best Teaching. He is editor of the series «Lectures in Mathematics, ETH Zà 1/4rich» and co-editor of the series «Zurich Lectures in Advanced Mathematics»; moreover, he is co-editor of the journals «Calculus of Variations», «Duke Mathematical Journal», and «International Mathematical Research Notices».

The Direct Methods in the Calculus of Variations.- Lower Semi-Continuity.- Constraints.- Compensated Compactness.- The Concentration-Compactness Principle.- Ekeland's Variational Principle.- Duality.- Minimization Problems Depending on Parameters.- Minimax Methods.- The Finite Dimensional Case.- The Palais-Smale Condition.- A General Deformation Lemma.- The Minimax Principle.- Index Theory.- The Mountain Pass Lemma and its Variants.- Perturbation Theory.- Linking.- Parameter Dependence.- Critical Points of Mountain Pass Type.- Non-Differentiable Functionals.- Ljusternik-Schnirelman Theory on Convex Sets.- Limit Cases of the Palais-Smale Condition.- Pohozaev's Non-Existence Result.- The Brezis-Nierenberg Result.- The Effect of Topology.- The Yamabe Problem.- The Dirichlet Problem for the Equation of Constant Mean Curvature.- Harmonic Maps of Riemannian Surfaces.- Appendix A.- Appendix B.- Appendix C.- References.- Index.

From the reviews of the fourth edition:

"The fourth edition of Michael Struwe's book Variational Methods: Applications to Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and Hamiltonian Systems was published in 2008, 18 years after the first edition. ... The bibliography alone would make it a valuable reference as it contains nearly 500 references. ... Struwe's book is addressed to researchers in differential geometry and partial differential equations." (John D. Cook, MAA Online, January, 2009)

"This is the fourth edition of a standard reference work on direct methods in the calculus of variations. ... The book contains a wealth of important results that would otherwise be hard to find in one single place." (M. Kunzinger, Monatshefte für Mathematik, Vol. 160 (4), July, 2010)

From the reviews of the fourth edition:"The fourth edition of Michael Struwe’s book Variational Methods: Applications to Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and Hamiltonian Systems was published in 2008, 18 years after the first edition. … The bibliography alone would make it a valuable reference as it contains nearly 500 references. … Struwe’s book is addressed to researchers in differential geometry and partial differential equations." (John D. Cook, MAA Online, January, 2009)“This is the fourth edition of a standard reference work on direct methods in the calculus of variations. … The book contains a wealth of important results that would otherwise be hard to find in one single place.” (M. Kunzinger, Monatshefte für Mathematik, Vol. 160 (4), July, 2010)