Variational Methods : Applications to Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and Hamiltonian Systems

This, the fourth edition of Stuwe's book on the calculus of variations, surveys new developments in this exciting field. It also gives a concise introduction to variational methods. In particular it includes the proof for the convergence of the Yamabe flow and a detailed treatment of the phenomenon of blow-up. Recently discovered results for backward bubbling in the heat flow for harmonic maps or surfaces are discussed. A number of changes have been made throughout the text.