Center for                           Nonlinear Analysis CNA Home People Seminars Publications Workshops and Conferences CNA Working Groups CNA Comments Form Summer Schools Summer Undergraduate Institute PIRE Cooperation Graduate Topics Courses SIAM Chapter Seminar Positions Contact CNA Seminar/Colloquium/Joint Pitt-CNA Colloquium Luisa Mascarenhas Univ. Nova de Lisboa Title: Waveguides with Robin conditions Abstract: In a previous paper the authors analyzed the 3D-1D asymptotic behavior of the spectral problem for the Laplace operator, with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. A possible physical motivation for this problem is the understanding of the behavior of the probability density associated with the wave function of a particle confined in a thin waveguide. The study revealed very interesting effects on the energy levels, caused by the geometrical characteristics of the thin domain, such as the curvature and the torsion. In the present paper we analyze the Laplace operator under more general boundary conditions (Robin conditions) more precisely, $$\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} -\Delta u_{\epsilon} = \lambda_{\epsilon}u_{\epsilon}, & \textrm{ in } \Omega_{\epsilon} \\ \frac{\partial u_{\epsilon}}{\partial n_{\epsilon}} +\gamma_{\epsilon}u_{\epsilon}=0, & \textrm{ on } \partial \Omega_{\epsilon}, \end{array} \right.$$where $\epsilon$ is a small positive parameter, $\Omega_{\epsilon} \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ is a thin and long domain generated by a cross section $\omega_{\epsilon} (\omega \subset \mathbb{R}^2)$ which rotates along a curve through an angle $\alpha(s)$ with respect to the Frenet frame, and $\gamma_{\epsilon} \in L^{\infty}(\partial \omega)$. Two rather distinct situations may emerge: if some geometric conditions are satisfied, then we will obtain a 1D limit problem, with torsion and curvature effects generalizing, for the Robin conditions, the results previously obtained. If, on the contrary, those geometric conditions are not satisfied, then a localization phenomena appears around the minimum point of a certain function depending on geometric parameters and on both the curvature and the rotation angle of the waveguide's cross section.Recording: http://vnc.math.cmu.edu/cna/CNA-Mascarenhas-Apr-21-2011.aviDate: Thursday, April 21, 2011Time: 1:30 pmLocation: Wean Hall 7218Submitted by:  David Kinderlehrer