The book is devoted to the theory of gradient flows in the general framework of metric spaces, and in the more specific setting of the space of probability measures, which provide a surprising link between optimal transportation theory and many evolutionary PDE's related to (non)linear diffusion. Particular emphasis is given to the convergence of the implicit time discretization method and to the error estimates for this discretization, extending the well established theory in Hilbert spaces. The book is split in two main parts that can be read independently of each other.

This book is devoted to a theory of gradient ?ows in spaces which are not nec- sarily endowed with a natural linear or di?erentiable structure. It is made of two parts, the ?rst one concerning gradient ?ows in metric spaces and the second one 2 1 devoted to gradient ?ows in the L -Wasserstein space of probability measures on p a separable Hilbert space X (we consider the L -Wasserstein distance, p? (1,?), as well). The two parts have some connections, due to the fact that the Wasserstein space of probability measures provides an important model to which the “metric” theory applies, but the book is conceived in such a way that the two parts can be read independently, the ?rst one by the reader more interested to Non-Smooth Analysis and Analysis in Metric Spaces, and the second one by the reader more oriented to theapplications in Partial Di?erential Equations, Measure Theory and Probability.

This is the proceedings of a conference held at the Fields Insitute and designed to bring together traditionally disparate fields of mathematical research. On such key interraction occurs between dynamical systems and algorithms. This volume explores many such interractions as well as related work in optimal control and partial differential equations.

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This book focuses on Hamilton's Ricci flow, beginning with a detailed discussion of the required aspects of differential geometry, progressing through existence and regularity theory, compactness theorems for Riemannian manifolds, and Perelman's noncollapsing results, and culminating in a detailed analysis of the evolution of curvature, where recent breakthroughs of Böhm and Wilking and Brendle and Schoen have led to a proof of the differentiable 1/4-pinching sphere theorem.

This book provides a self-contained introduction to optimal transport, and it is intended as a starting point for any researcher who wants to enter into this beautiful subject. The presentation focuses on the essential topics of the theory: Kantorovich duality, existence and uniqueness of optimal transport maps, Wasserstein distances, the JKO scheme, Otto's calculus, and Wasserstein gradient flows. At the end, a presentation of some selected applications of optimal transport is given. Suitable for a course at the graduate level, the book also includes an appendix with a series of exercises along with their solutions. The second edition contains a number of additions, such as a new section on the Brunn–Minkowski inequality, new exercises, and various corrections throughout the text.

The material collected in this volume reflects the active present of this area of mathematics, ranging from the abstract theory of gradient flows to stochastic representations of non-linear parabolic PDE's.Articles will highlight the present as well as expected future directions of development of the field with particular emphasis on applications. The article by Ambrosio and Savaré discussesthe most recent development in the theory of gradient flow of probability measures. After an introduction reviewing the properties of the Wasserstein space and corresponding subdifferential calculus, applications are given to evolutionarypartial differential equations. The contribution of Herrero provides a description of some mathematical approaches developed to account for quantitative as well as qualitative aspects of chemotaxis. Particular attention is paid to the limits of cell'scapability to measure external cues on the one hand, and to provide an overall description of aggregation models for the slim mold Dictyostelium discoideum on the other.The chapter written by Masmoudi deals with a rather different topic - examples of singular limits in hydrodynamics. This is nowadays a well-studied issue given the amount of new results based on the development of the existence theory for rather general systems of equations in hydrodynamics. The paper by DeLellis addreses the most recent results for the transport equations with regard to possible applications in the theory of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. Emphasis is put on the development of the theory in the case when the governing field is only a BV function.The chapter by Rein represents a comprehensive survey of results on the Poisson-Vlasov system in astrophysics. The question of global stability of steady states is addressed in detail. The contribution of Soner is devoted to different representations of non-linear parabolic equations in terms of Markov processes. After a brief introduction on the linear theory, a class ofnon-linear equations is investigated, with applications to stochastic control and differential games.The chapter written by Zuazua presents some of the recent progresses done on the problem of controllabilty of partial differential equations. The applications include the linear wave and heat equations,parabolic equations with coefficients of low regularity, and some fluid-structure interaction models.- Volume 1 focuses on the abstract theory of evolution- Volume 2 considers more concrete probelms relating to specific applications- Volume 3 reflects the active present of this area of mathematics, ranging from the abstract theory of gradient flows to stochastic representations of non-linear PDEs