This volume contains the refereed proceedings of the conference on Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations, Dynamics and Continuum Physics which was held at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, from July 19th to July 23rd, 1998. Models examined derive from a wide range of applications, including elasticity, thermoviscoelasticity, granular media, fluid dynamics, gas dynamics and conservation laws. Mathematical topics include existence theory and stability/instability of traveling waves, asymptotic behavior of solutions to nonlinear wave equations, effects of dissipation, mechanisms of blow-up, well-posedness and regularity, and fractal solutions. The text will be of interest to graduate students and researchers working in nonlinear partial differential equations and applied mathematics.

Nonlinear differential or difference equations are encountered not only in mathematics, but also in many areas of physics (evolution equations, propagation of a signal in an optical fiber), chemistry (reaction-diffusion systems), and biology (competition of species). This book introduces the reader to methods allowing one to build explicit solutions to these equations. A prerequisite task is to investigate whether the chances of success are high or low, and this can be achieved without any a priori knowledge of the solutions, with a powerful algorithm presented in detail called the Painlevé test. If the equation under study passes the Painlevé test, the equation is presumed integrable. If on the contrary the test fails, the system is nonintegrable or even chaotic, but it may still be possible to find solutions. The examples chosen to illustrate these methods are mostly taken from physics. These include on the integrable side the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (continuous and discrete), the Korteweg-de Vries equation, the Hénon-Heiles Hamiltonians, on the nonintegrable side the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (encountered in optical fibers, turbulence, etc), the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation (phase turbulence), the Kolmogorov-Petrovski-Piskunov equation (KPP, a reaction-diffusion model), the Lorenz model of atmospheric circulation and the Bianchi IX cosmological model. Written at a graduate level, the book contains tutorial text as well as detailed examples and the state of the art on some current research.

This volume constitutes the proceedings of the Workshop 'Nonlinear Physics. Theory and Experiment' held in Gallipoli (Lecce, Italy) from June 29 to July 7, 1995.The purpose of the Workshop was to bring together scientists whose common interest is the nature, structure and properties of nonlinear phenomena in various areas of physics and applied mathematics.The purpose of the Workshop was to bring together scientists whose common interest is the nature, structure and properties of nonlinear phenomena in various areas of physics and applied mathematics.In fact, topics covered at the Workshop run from nonlinear optics to molecular dynamics, plasma waves, hydrodynamics, quantum electronics and solid state, and from inverse scattering transform methods to dynamical systems including integrability, hamiltonian structures, geometrical aspects, turbulence and chaos.

This book, now in its second edition, introduces the singularity analysis of differential and difference equations via the Painlevé test and shows how Painlevé analysis provides a powerful algorithmic approach to building explicit solutions to nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations. It is illustrated with integrable equations such as the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, the Korteweg-de Vries equation, Hénon-Heiles type Hamiltonians, and numerous physically relevant examples such as the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation, the Kolmogorov-Petrovski-Piskunov equation, and mainly the cubic and quintic Ginzburg-Landau equations. Extensively revised, updated, and expanded, this new edition includes: recent insights from Nevanlinna theory and analysis on both the cubic and quintic Ginzburg-Landau equations; a close look at physical problems involving the sixth Painlevé function; and an overview of new results since the book’s original publication with special focus on finite difference equations. The book features tutorials, appendices, and comprehensive references, and will appeal to graduate students and researchers in both mathematics and the physical sciences.