Multiple nonradial solutions for a nonlinear elliptic problem with singular and decaying radial potential

Many existence and nonexistence results are known for nonnegative radial solutions $u\in D^{1,2}(\mathbb{R}^{N})\cap L^{2}(\mathbb{R}^{N},\left|x\right| ^{-\alpha }dx)$ to the equation $$-\triangle u+\dfrac{A}{\left| x\right| ^{\alpha }}u=f\left( u\right) \quad \textrm{in }\mathbb{R}^{N},\quad N\geq 3,\quad A,\alpha >0,$$ with nonlinearites satisfying $\left| f\left( u\right) \right| \leq \left(\mathrm{const.}\right) u^{p-1}$ for some $p>2$. Existence of nonradial solutions, by contrast, is known only for $N\geq 4$, $\alpha =2$, $f\left( u\right) =u^{(N+2)/(N-2)}$ and $A$ large enough. Here we show that the equation has multiple nonradial solutions as $A\rightarrow +\infty$ for $N\geq 4$, $2/(N-1)<\alpha <2N-2$, $\alpha\neq 2$, and nonlinearities satisfying suitable assumptions. Our argument essentially relies on the compact embeddings between some suitable functional spaces of symmetric functions, which yields the existence of nonnegative solutions of mountain-pass type, and the separation of the corresponding mountain-pass levels from the energy levels associated to radial solutions

Fast Quantum Methods for Optimization

Discrete combinatorial optimization consists in finding the optimal configuration that minimizes a given discrete objective function. An interpretation of such a function as the energy of a classical system allows us to reduce the optimization problem into the preparation of a low-temperature thermal state of the system. Motivated by the quantum annealing method, we present three strategies to prepare the low-temperature state that exploit quantum mechanics in remarkable ways. We focus on implementations without uncontrolled errors induced by the environment. This allows us to rigorously prove a quantum advantage. The first strategy uses a classical-to-quantum mapping, where the equilibrium properties of a classical system in $d$ spatial dimensions can be determined from the ground state properties of a quantum system also in $d$ spatial dimensions. We show how such a ground state can be prepared by means of quantum annealing, including quantum adiabatic evolutions. This mapping also allows us to unveil some fundamental relations between simulated and quantum annealing. The second strategy builds upon the first one and introduces a technique called spectral gap amplification to reduce the time required to prepare the same quantum state adiabatically. If implemented on a quantum device that exploits quantum coherence, this strategy leads to a quadratic improvement in complexity over the well-known bound of the classical simulated annealing method. The third strategy is not purely adiabatic; instead, it exploits diabatic processes between the low-energy states of the corresponding quantum system. For some problems it results in an exponential speedup (in the oracle model) over the best classical algorithms.Comment: 15 pages (2 figures

Designing experiments using digital fabrication in structural dynamics

In engineering, traditional approaches aimed at teaching concepts of dynamics to engineering students include the study of a dense yet sequential theoretical development of proofs and exercises. Structural dynamics are seldom taught experimentally in laboratories since these facilities should be provided with expensive equipment such as wave generators, data-acquisition systems, and heavily wired deployments with sensors. In this paper, the design of an experimental experience in the classroom based upon digital fabrication and modeling tools related to structural dynamics is presented. In particular, all experimental deployments are conceived with low-cost, open-source equipment. The hardware includes Arduino-based open-source electronics whereas the software is based upon object-oriented open-source codes for the development of physical simulations. The set of experiments and the physical simulations are reproducible and scalable in classroom-based environments.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft