DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
October 16, 2002

  Paul Rabinowitz
University of Wisconsin - Madison

As part of a PDE generalization of work of Aubrey and of Mather on monotone twist maps (going from 1 dimensional orbits to codimension 1 surfaces), Moser studied minimal solutions of a class of elliptic variational problems on a torus. Using nonvariational arguments, Bangert found additional solutions of heteroclinic type.  We will discuss another variational approach to these questions which will yield solutions with more complex spatial dynamics.