We consider a class of non-quasi-convex frame indifferent energy densities that includes Ogden-type energy densities for nematic elastomers. For the corresponding geometrically linear problem, we provide an explicit minimizer of the energy functional satisfying a non-trivial boundary condition. Other attainment results, both for the nonlinear and the linearised model, are obtained by using the theory of convex integration introduced by Müller and Šverák in the context of crystalline solids.

We establish a sharp ultimate bound of the solution to a second-order dissipative nonlinear equation with bounded forcing term.

We are interested in the energetic cost of a martensitic inclusion of volume V in austenite for the cubic-to-tetragonal phase transformation. In contrast with the work of Knüpfer, Kohn and Otto (Commun. Pure Appl. Math.66 (2013), 867–904), we consider a domain with a corner and obtain a better scaling law for the minimal energy (Emin ∼ min(V2/3, V7/9)). Our predictions are in good agreement with physical experiments where nucleation of martensite is usually observed near the corners of the specimen.

We continue the study of the boundedness of the operator

on the set of decreasing functions in Lp(w). This operator was first introduced by Braverman and Lai and also studied by Andersen, and although the weighted weak-type estimate was completely solved, the characterization of the weights w such that is bounded is still open for the case in which p > 1. The solution of this problem will have applications in the study of the boundedness on weighted Lorentz spaces of important operators in harmonic analysis.

We study the existence of non-trivial solutions for a class of asymptotically periodic semilinear Schrödinger equations in ℝN. By combining variational methods and the concentration-compactness principle, we obtain a non-trivial solution for the asymptotically periodic case and a ground state solution for the periodic one. In the proofs we apply the mountain pass theorem and its local version.

The paper deals with blow-up for the solutions of an evolution problem consisting in a semilinear wave equation posed in a bounded C1,1 open subset of ℝn, supplied with a Neumann boundary condition involving a nonlinear dissipation. The typical problem studied is

where ∂Ω = Γ0 ∪ Γ1, Γ0 ∩ Γ1 = ∅, σ(Γ0) > 0, 2 < p ≤ 2(n − 1)/(n − 2) (when n ≥ 3), m > 1, α ∈ L∞(Γ1), α ≥ 0 and β ≥ 0. The initial data are posed in the energy space.The aim of the paper is to improve previous blow-up results concerning the problem.

We present some sufficient conditions to obtain compactness properties for the Euler–Lagrange functional of an elliptic equation. As an application, we extend some existence and multiplicity results for superlinear problems.

We present an existence and stability theory for gravity–capillary solitary waves with constant vorticity on the surface of a body of water of finite depth. Exploiting a rotational version of the classical variational principle, we prove the existence of a minimizer of the wave energy 𝓗 subject to the constraint 𝓘 = 2µ, where 𝓘 is the wave momentum and 0 < µ ≪ 1. Since 𝓗 and 𝓘 are both conserved quantities, a standard argument asserts the stability of the set Dµ of minimizers: solutions starting near Dµ remain close to Dµ in a suitably defined energy space over their interval of existence. In the applied mathematics literature solitary water waves of the present kind are described by solutions of a Korteweg–de Vries equation (for strong surface tension) or a nonlinear Schrödinger equation (for weak surface tension). We show that the waves detected by our variational method converge (after an appropriate rescaling) to solutions of the appropriate model equation as µ ↓ 0.

We review some classical differentiation theorems for measures, showing how they can be turned into an integral representation of a Borel measure with respect to a fixed Carathéodory measure. We focus our attention on the case when this measure is the spherical Hausdorff measure, giving a metric measure area formula. Our aim is to use certain covering derivatives as ‘generalized densities’. Some consequences for the sub-Riemannian Heisenberg group are also pointed out.