The appearance of weakly wandering (ww) sets and sequences for ergodic transformations over half a century ago was an unexpected and surprising event. In time it was shown that ww and related sequences reflected significant and deep properties of ergodic transformations that preserve an infinite measure.This monograph studies in a systematic way the role of ww and related sequences in the classification of ergodic transformations preserving an infinite measure. Connections of these...

The P-NP problem is the most important open problem in computer science, if not all of mathematics. The Golden Ticket provides a nontechnical introduction to P-NP, its rich history, and its algorithmic implications for everything we do with computers and beyond. In this informative and entertaining book, Lance Fortnow traces how the problem arose during the Cold War on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and gives examples of the problem from a variety of disciplines, including econom...

This contributed volume provides readers with an overview of the most recent developments in the mathematical fields related to fractals, including both original research contributions, as well as surveys from many of the leading experts on modern fractal theory and applications. It is an outgrowth of the Conference of Fractals and Related Fields III, that was held on September 19-25, 2015 in île de Porquerolles, France. Chapters cover fields related to fractals such as harmonic analysis, ...

A billiard is a dynamical system in which a point particle alternates between free motion and specular reflections from the boundary of a domain. Exterior Billiards presents billiards in the complement of domains and their applications in aerodynamics and geometrical optics.This book distinguishes itself from existing literature by presenting billiard dynamics outside bounded domains, including scattering, resistance, invisibility and retro-reflection. It begins w...

These Lecture Notes contain the material relative to the courses given at the CIME summer school held in Cetraro, Italy from August 29 to September 3, 2011. The topic was "Hamilton-Jacobi Equations: Approximations, Numerical Analysis and Applications". The courses dealt mostly with the following subjects: first order and second order Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations, properties of viscosity solutions, asymptotic behaviors, mean field games, approximation and numerical methods, idempotent ...

In this book the authors take a rigorous look at the infinite-horizon discrete-time optimal control theory from the viewpoint of Pontryagin’s principles. Several Pontryagin principles are described which govern systems and various criteria which define the notions of optimality, along with a detailed analysis of how each Pontryagin principle relate to each other. The Pontryagin principle is examined in a stochastic setting and results are given which generalize Pontryagin’s principles to m...

This second edition of the popular textbook contains a comprehensive course in modern probability theory, covering a wide variety of topics which are not usually found in introductory textbooks, including:• limit theorems for sums of random variables• martingales• percolation• Markov chains and electrical networks• construction of stochastic processes• Poisson point process and infinite divisibility• large deviation principles and statistica...

This book focuses on the interpretation of ergodic optimal problems as questions of variational dynamics, employing a comparable approach to that of the Aubry-Mather theory for Lagrangian systems. Ergodic optimization is primarily concerned with the study of optimizing probability measures. This work presents and discusses the fundamental concepts of the theory, including the use and relevance of Sub-actions as analogues to subsolutions of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. Further, it provides...

In the spring of 1976, George Andrews of Pennsylvania State University visited the library at Trinity College, Cambridge, to examine the papers of the late G.N. Watson. Among these papers, Andrews discovered a sheaf of 138 pages in the handwriting of Srinivasa Ramanujan. This manuscript was soon designated, "Ramanujan's lost notebook." Its discovery has frequently been deemed the mathematical equivalent of finding Beethoven's tenth symphony.This volume is the fourth of five volumes...

By establishing an alternative foundation of control theory, this thesis represents a significant advance in the theory of control systems, of interest to a broad range of scientists and engineers. While common control strategies for dynamical systems center on the system state as the object to be controlled, the approach developed here focuses on the state trajectory. The concept of precisely realizable trajectories identifies those trajectories that can be accurately achieved by applying...

This book offers a comprehensive treatment of the theory of measures of noncompactness. It discusses various applications of the theory of measures of noncompactness, in particular, by addressing the results and methods of fixed-point theory. The concept of a measure of noncompactness is very useful for the mathematical community working in nonlinear analysis. Both these theories are especially useful in investigations connected with differential equations, integral equations, functional i...

The contributions in this volume aim to deepen understanding of some of the current research problems and theories in modern topics such as calculus of variations, optimization theory, complex analysis, real analysis, differential equations, and geometry. Applications to these areas of mathematics are presented within the broad spectrum of research in Engineering Science with particular emphasis on equilibrium problems, complexity in numerical optimization, dynamical systems, non-smooth op...