Graduate Student / Postdoc Seminar

---

Large-Time Behavior of Small Waves

Speaker: Pierre Germain, Courant

Location: Warren Weaver Hall 1302

Date: Friday, October 29, 2010, 1 p.m.

Synopsis:

Perturb slightly an equilibrium state of a nonlinear wave equation; what happens for large time? This question is ubiquitous in physics. The best example may be a perfectly still water surface: drop a tiny stone, and observe the resulting ripples. I will discuss this class of problems from a physical point of view, and describe rigorous tools which can be used to analyze it rigorously.