Jürgen Sprekels

The present monograph is intended to provide a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the optimization of elliptic systems. This area of mathematical research, which has many important applications in science and technology. has experienced an impressive development during the past two decades. There are already many good textbooks dealing with various aspects of optimal design problems. In this regard, we refer to the works of Pironneau [1984], Haslinger and Neittaanmaki [1988], [1996], Sokolowski and Zolksio [1992], Litvinov [2000], Allaire [2001], Mohammadi and Pironneau [2001], Delfour and Zolksio [2001], and Makinen and Haslinger [2003]. Already Lions [I9681 devoted a major part of his classical monograph on the optimal control of partial differential equations to the optimization of elliptic systems. Let us also mention that even the very first known problem of the calculus of variations, the brachistochrone studied by Bernoulli back in 1696. is in fact a shape optimization problem. The natural richness of this mathematical research subject, as well as the extremely large field of possible applications, has created the unusual situation that although many important results and methods have already been est- lished, there are still pressing unsolved questions. In this monograph, we aim to address some of these open problems; as a consequence, there is only a minor overlap with the textbooks already existing in the field.

Hysteresis is an exciting and mathematically challenging phenomenon that oc­ curs in rather different situations: jt, can be a byproduct offundamental physical mechanisms (such as phase transitions) or the consequence of a degradation or imperfection (like the play in a mechanical system), or it is built deliberately into a system in order to monitor its behaviour, as in the case of the heat control via thermostats. The delicate interplay between memory effects and the occurrence of hys­ teresis loops has the effect that hysteresis is a genuinely nonlinear phenomenon which is usually non-smooth and thus not easy to treat mathematically. Hence it was only in the early seventies that the group of Russian scientists around M. A. Krasnoselskii initiated a systematic mathematical investigation of the phenomenon of hysteresis which culminated in the fundamental monograph Krasnoselskii-Pokrovskii (1983). In the meantime, many mathematicians have contributed to the mathematical theory, and the important monographs of 1. Mayergoyz (1991) and A. Visintin (1994a) have appeared. We came into contact with the notion of hysteresis around the year 1980.

The present monograph is intended to provide a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the optimization of elliptic systems. This area of mathematical research, which has many important applications in science and technology. has experienced an impressive development during the past two decades. There are already many good textbooks dealing with various aspects of optimal design problems. In this regard, we refer to the works of Pironneau [1984], Haslinger and Neittaanmaki [1988], [1996], Sokolowski and Zolksio [1992], Litvinov [2000], Allaire [2001], Mohammadi and Pironneau [2001], Delfour and Zolksio [2001], and Makinen and Haslinger [2003]. Already Lions [I9681 devoted a major part of his classical monograph on the optimal control of partial differential equations to the optimization of elliptic systems. Let us also mention that even the very first known problem of the calculus of variations, the brachistochrone studied by Bernoulli back in 1696. is in fact a shape optimization problem. The natural richness of this mathematical research subject, as well as the extremely large field of possible applications, has created the unusual situation that although many important results and methods have already been est- lished, there are still pressing unsolved questions. In this monograph, we aim to address some of these open problems; as a consequence, there is only a minor overlap with the textbooks already existing in the field.

Hysteresis is an exciting and mathematically challenging phenomenon that oc­ curs in rather different situations: jt, can be a byproduct offundamental physical mechanisms (such as phase transitions) or the consequence of a degradation or imperfection (like the play in a mechanical system), or it is built deliberately into a system in order to monitor its behaviour, as in the case of the heat control via thermostats. The delicate interplay between memory effects and the occurrence of hys­ teresis loops has the effect that hysteresis is a genuinely nonlinear phenomenon which is usually non-smooth and thus not easy to treat mathematically. Hence it was only in the early seventies that the group of Russian scientists around M. A. Krasnoselskii initiated a systematic mathematical investigation of the phenomenon of hysteresis which culminated in the fundamental monograph Krasnoselskii-Pokrovskii (1983). In the meantime, many mathematicians have contributed to the mathematical theory, and the important monographs of 1. Mayergoyz (1991) and A. Visintin (1994a) have appeared. We came into contact with the notion of hysteresis around the year 1980.