[Book of abstracts]

USPFAPESPCAPESICMC Summer Meeting on Differential Equations (2015 São Carlos

New developments in Functional and Fractional Differential Equations and in Lie Symmetry

Delay, difference, functional, fractional, and partial differential equations have many applications in science and engineering. In this Special Issue, 29 experts co-authored 10 papers dealing with these subjects. A summary of the main points of these papers follows:Several oscillation conditions for a first-order linear differential equation with non-monotone delay are established in Oscillation Criteria for First Order Differential Equations with Non-Monotone Delays, whereas a sharp oscillation criterion using the notion of slowly varying functions is established in A Sharp Oscillation Criterion for a Linear Differential Equation with Variable Delay. The approximation of a linear autonomous differential equation with a small delay is considered in Approximation of a Linear Autonomous Differential Equation with Small Delay; the model of infection diseases by Marchuk is studied in Around the Model of Infection Disease: The Cauchy Matrix and Its Properties. Exact solutions to fractional-order Fokker–Planck equations are presented in New Exact Solutions and Conservation Laws to the Fractional-Order Fokker–Planck Equations, and a spectral collocation approach to solving a class of time-fractional stochastic heat equations driven by Brownian motion is constructed in A Collocation Approach for Solving Time-Fractional Stochastic Heat Equation Driven by an Additive Noise. A finite difference approximation method for a space fractional convection-diffusion model with variable coefficients is proposed in Finite Difference Approximation Method for a Space Fractional Convection–Diffusion Equation with Variable Coefficients; existence results for a nonlinear fractional difference equation with delay and impulses are established in On Nonlinear Fractional Difference Equation with Delay and Impulses. A complete Noether symmetry analysis of a generalized coupled Lane–Emden–Klein–Gordon–Fock system with central symmetry is provided in Oscillation Criteria for First Order Differential Equations with Non-Monotone Delays, and new soliton solutions of a fractional Jaulent soliton Miodek system via symmetry analysis are presented in New Soliton Solutions of Fractional Jaulent-Miodek System with Symmetry Analysis

Geometry of fractional spaces

We introduce fractional flat space, described by a continuous geometry with constant non-integer Hausdorff and spectral dimensions. This is the analogue of Euclidean space, but with anomalous scaling and diffusion properties. The basic tool is fractional calculus, which is cast in a way convenient for the definition of the differential structure, distances, volumes, and symmetries. By an extensive use of concepts and techniques of fractal geometry, we clarify the relation between fractional calculus and fractals, showing that fractional spaces can be regarded as fractals when the ratio of their Hausdorff and spectral dimension is greater than one. All the results are analytic and constitute the foundation for field theories living on multi-fractal spacetimes, which are presented in a companion paper.Comment: 90 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. v2: section 5 revised, result unchanged; v3: minor typos correcte

The random diffusivity approach for diffusion in heterogeneous systems.

164 p.The two hallmark features of Brownian motion are the linear growth of the meansquared displacement (MSD) with diffusion coefficient D in d spatial dimensions, andthe Gaussian distribution of displacements. With the increasing complexity of thestudied systems deviations from these two central properties have been unveiledover the years. Recently, a large variety of systems have been reported in which theMSD exhibits the linear growth in time of Brownian (Fickian) transport, however, thedistribution of displacements is pronouncedly non-Gaussian (Brownian yet non-Gaussian, BNG). A similar behaviour is also observed for viscoelastic-type motionwhere an anomalous trend of the MSD is combined with a priori unexpected non-Gaussian distributions (anomalous yet non-Gaussian, ANG). This kind of behaviourobserved in BNG and ANG diffusions has been related to the presence ofheterogeneities in the systems and a common approach has been established toaddress it, that is, the random diffusivity approach.This dissertation explores extensively the field of random diffusivity models. Startingfrom a chronological description of all the main approaches used as an attempt ofdescribing BNG and ANG diffusion, different mathematical methodologies aredefined for the resolution and study of these models.The processes that are reported in this work can be classified in threesubcategories, i) randomly-scaled Gaussian processes, ii) superstatistical modelsand iii) diffusing diffusivity models, all belonging to the more general class of randomdiffusivity models.Eventually, the study focuses more on BNG diffusion, which is by now wellestablishedand relatively well-understood. Nevertheless, many examples arediscussed for the description of ANG diffusion, in order to highlight the possiblescenarios which are known so far for the study of this class of processes.The second part of the dissertation deals with the statistical analysis of randomdiffusivity processes. A general description based on the concept of momentgeneratingfunction is initially provided to obtain standard statistical properties of themodels. Then, the discussion moves to the study of the power spectral analysis andthe first passage statistics for some particular random diffusivity models. Acomparison between the results coming from the random diffusivity approach andthe ones for standard Brownian motion is discussed. In this way, a deeper physicalunderstanding of the systems described by random diffusivity models is alsooutlined.To conclude, a discussion based on the possible origins of the heterogeneity issketched, with the main goal of inferring which kind of systems can actually bedescribed by the random diffusivity approach