Partial Differential Equation Formulations from Variational Problems

Abstract

The calculus of variations applied in multivariate problems can give rise to several classical Partial Differential Equations (PDE’s) of interest. To this end, it is acknowledged that a vast range of classical PDE’s were formulated initially from variational problems. In this paper, we aim to formulate such equations arising from the viewpoint of optimization of energy functionals on smooth Riemannian manifolds. These energy functionals are given as sufficiently regular integrals of other functionals defined on the manifolds. Relevant Banach domains which contain the optimal functional solutions are identified by preliminary analysis, and then necessary optimality conditions are discovered by differentiation in these Banach spaces. To determine specific optimal functionals in simple settings, smaller target domains are taken as appropriate subsets of the Banach (Sobolev) spaces. Briefings on analytical implications and approaches proffered are included for the aforementioned simple settings as well as more general case scenarios.