Nonlinear analysis is a broad, interdisciplinary field characterized by a remarkable mixture of analysis, topology, and applications. Its concepts and techniques provide the tools for developing more realistic and accurate models for a variety of phenomena encountered in fields ranging from engineering and chemistry to economics and biology. This volume focuses on topics in nonlinear analysis pertinent to the theory of boundary value problems and their application in areas such as control theory and the calculus of variations. It complements the many other books on nonlinear analysis by addressing topics previously discussed fully only in scattered research papers. These include recent results on critical point theory, nonlinear differential operators, and related regularity and comparison principles.
The rich variety of topics, both theoretical and applied, make Nonlinear Analysis useful to anyone, whether graduate student or researcher, working in analysis or its applications in optimal control, theoretical mechanics, or dynamical systems. An appendix contains all of the background material needed, and a detailed bibliography forms a guide for further study.