Series expansion for L^p Hardy inequalities

We consider a general class of sharp $L^p$ Hardy inequalities in $\R^N$ involving distance from a surface of general codimension $1\leq k\leq N$. We show that we can succesively improve them by adding to the right hand side a lower order term with optimal weight and best constant. This leads to an infinite series improvement of $L^p$ Hardy inequalities.Comment: 16 pages, to appear in the Indiana Univ. Math.

Critical Hardy--Sobolev Inequalities

We consider Hardy inequalities in $I R^n$, $n \geq 3$, with best constant that involve either distance to the boundary or distance to a surface of co-dimension $k<n$, and we show that they can still be improved by adding a multiple of a whole range of critical norms that at the extreme case become precisely the critical Sobolev norm.Comment: 22 page

Augmenting Ship Propulsion in Waves Using Flapping Foils Initially Designed for Roll Stabilization

AbstractBiomimetic flapping foils attached on ship hull are studied for wave-energy extraction, stored in ship motions, and direct conversion to propulsive power. We examine a pair of roll-stabilization wings located at the side of the hull, in horizontal arrangement. The fins gain their linear oscillation (heaving) from ship pitching and heaving responses in irregular waves, while wing's rotation (pitching) is properly controlled with respect to its vertical motion history. A method, developed in our previous works, is applied for that purpose. The system operates in realistic sea conditions modeled by using parametric spectra, taking into account the coupling between ship responses and the hydrodynamics of the lifting appendages. We present numerical calculations concerning the operation of the augmenting system indicating that, although the present arrangement is designed for roll reduction purposes it can obtain significant amount of thrust. Also it is illustrated that, after reposition of the fins near the bow, the performance of the system can be further enhanced

Sharp two-sided heat kernel estimates for critical Schr\"odinger operators on bounded domains

On a smooth bounded domain \Omega \subset R^N we consider the Schr\"odinger operators -\Delta -V, with V being either the critical borderline potential V(x)=(N-2)^2/4 |x|^{-2} or V(x)=(1/4) dist (x,\partial\Omega)^{-2}, under Dirichlet boundary conditions. In this work we obtain sharp two-sided estimates on the corresponding heat kernels. To this end we transform the Scr\"odinger operators into suitable degenerate operators, for which we prove a new parabolic Harnack inequality up to the boundary. To derive the Harnack inequality we have established a serier of new inequalities such as improved Hardy, logarithmic Hardy Sobolev, Hardy-Moser and weighted Poincar\'e. As a byproduct of our technique we are able to answer positively to a conjecture of E.B.Davies.Comment: 40 page

Universality in Blow-Up for Nonlinear Heat Equations

We consider the classical problem of the blowing-up of solutions of the nonlinear heat equation. We show that there exist infinitely many profiles around the blow-up point, and for each integer $k$, we construct a set of codimension $2k$ in the space of initial data giving rise to solutions that blow-up according to the given profile.Comment: 38 page

Sharp Trace Hardy-Sobolev-Maz'ya Inequalities and the Fractional Laplacian

In this work we establish trace Hardy and trace Hardy-Sobolev-Maz'ya inequalities with best Hardy constants, for domains satisfying suitable geometric assumptions such as mean convexity or convexity. We then use them to produce fractional Hardy-Sobolev-Maz'ya inequalities with best Hardy constants for various fractional Laplacians. In the case where the domain is the half space our results cover the full range of the exponent $s \in (0,1)$ of the fractional Laplacians. We answer in particular an open problem raised by Frank and Seiringer \cite{FS}.Comment: 42 page

Renormalizing Partial Differential Equations

In this review paper, we explain how to apply Renormalization Group ideas to the analysis of the long-time asymptotics of solutions of partial differential equations. We illustrate the method on several examples of nonlinear parabolic equations. We discuss many applications, including the stability of profiles and fronts in the Ginzburg-Landau equation, anomalous scaling laws in reaction-diffusion equations, and the shape of a solution near a blow-up point.Comment: 34 pages, Latex; [email protected]; [email protected]