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Variational Analysis in Sobolev and BV Spaces
Applications to Pdes and Optimization 2 Aufl Edition
Attouch Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Attouch, Hedy;Buttazzo, Giuseppe;Michaille, Gérard
ISBN(s): 9788420145150, 8420145157
Edition: 2 Aufl
File Details: PDF, 4.82 MB
Year: 2014
Language: english
 Variational Analysis in
Sobolev and BV Spaces

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 MOS-SIAM Series on Optimization

This series is published jointly by the Mathematical Optimization Society and the Society for Industrial
and Applied Mathematics. It includes research monographs, books on applications, textbooks at all
levels, and tutorials. Besides being of high scientific quality, books in the series must advance the
understanding and practice of optimization. They must also be written clearly and at an appropriate
level for the intended audience.

Editor-in-Chief
Katya Scheinberg
Lehigh University

Editorial Board
Santanu S. Dey Stefan Ulbrich
Georgia Institute of Technology Technische Universität Darmstadt
Maryam Fazel Luis Nunes Vicente
University of Washington University of Coimbra
Andrea Lodi David Williamson
University of Bologna Cornell University
Arkadi Nemirovski Stephen J. Wright
Georgia Institute of Technology University of Wisconsin

Series Volumes
Attouch, Hedy, Buttazzo, Giuseppe, and Michaille, Gérard, Variational Analysis in Sobolev and BV Spaces:
Applications to PDEs and Optimization, Second Edition
Shapiro, Alexander, Dentcheva, Darinka, and Ruszczynski,
´ Andrzej, Lectures on Stochastic Programming:
Modeling and Theory, Second Edition
Locatelli, Marco and Schoen, Fabio, Global Optimization: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications
De Loera, Jesús A., Hemmecke, Raymond, and Köppe, Matthias, Algebraic and Geometric Ideas in the
Theory of Discrete Optimization
Blekherman, Grigoriy, Parrilo, Pablo A., and Thomas, Rekha R., editors, Semidefinite Optimization and
Convex Algebraic Geometry
Delfour, M. C., Introduction to Optimization and Semidifferential Calculus
Ulbrich, Michael, Semismooth Newton Methods for Variational Inequalities and Constrained Optimization
Problems in Function Spaces
Biegler, Lorenz T., Nonlinear Programming: Concepts, Algorithms, and Applications to Chemical Processes
Shapiro, Alexander, Dentcheva, Darinka, and Ruszczynski,
´ Andrzej, Lectures on Stochastic Programming:
Modeling and Theory
Conn, Andrew R., Scheinberg, Katya, and Vicente, Luis N., Introduction to Derivative-Free Optimization
Ferris, Michael C., Mangasarian, Olvi L., and Wright, Stephen J., Linear Programming with MATLAB
Attouch, Hedy, Buttazzo, Giuseppe, and Michaille, Gérard, Variational Analysis in Sobolev and BV Spaces:
Applications to PDEs and Optimization
Wallace, Stein W. and Ziemba, William T., editors, Applications of Stochastic Programming
Grötschel, Martin, editor, The Sharpest Cut: The Impact of Manfred Padberg and His Work
Renegar, James, A Mathematical View of Interior-Point Methods in Convex Optimization
Ben-Tal, Aharon and Nemirovski, Arkadi, Lectures on Modern Convex Optimization: Analysis, Algorithms,
and Engineering Applications
Conn, Andrew R., Gould, Nicholas I. M., and Toint, Phillippe L., Trust-Region Methods

MO17_FM-07-11-14.indd 2 7/11/2014 12:25:27 PM

 Variational Analysis in
Sobolev and BV Spaces
Applications to PDEs
and Optimization
Second Edition

Hedy Attouch
Université Montpellier II
Montpellier, France

Giuseppe Buttazzo
Università di Pisa
Pisa, Italy

Gérard Michaille
Université Montpellier II
Montpellier, France

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Mathematical Optimization Society

Philadelphia Philadelphia

MO17_FM-07-11-14.indd 3 7/11/2014 12:25:27 PM

 Copyright © 2014 by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the Mathematical
Optimization Society

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be
reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any manner without the written permission of the
publisher. For information, write to the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics,
3600 Market Street, 6th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2688 USA.

Trademarked names may be used in this book without the inclusion of a trademark symbol.
These names are used in an editorial context only; no infringement of trademark is intended.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Attouch, H.
Variational analysis in Sobolev and BV spaces : applications to PDEs and optimization / Hedy
Attouch, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, Giuseppe Buttazzo, Università di Pisa,
Pisa, Italy, Gérard Michaille, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France. -- Second edition.
pages cm. -- (MOS-SIAM series on optimization ; 17)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-611973-47-1
1. Mathematical optimization. 2. Function spaces. 3. Calculus of variations. 4. Sobolev
spaces. 5. Functions of bounded variation. 6. Differential equations, Partial. I. Buttazzo,
Giuseppe. II. Michaille, Gérard. III. Title.
QA402.5.A84 2014
515’.782--dc23
2014012612

is a registered trademark. is a registered trademark.

MO17_FM-07-11-14.indd 4 7/11/2014 12:25:27 PM

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Contents

Preface to the Second Edition ix

Preface to the First Edition xi

1 Introduction 1

I Basic Variational Principles 5

2 Weak solution methods in variational analysis 7

2.1 The Dirichlet problem: Historical presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Test functions and distribution theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3 Weak solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.4 Weak topologies and weak convergences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

3 Abstract variational principles 65

3.1 The Lax–Milgram theorem and the Galerkin method . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.2 Minimization problems: The topological approach . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.3 Convex minimization theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.4 Ekeland’s -variational principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

4 Complements on measure theory 105

4.1 Hausdorff measures and Hausdorff dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.2 Set functions and duality approach to Borel measures . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.3 Introduction to Young measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

5 Sobolev spaces 145

5.1 Sobolev spaces: Definition, density results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.2 The topological dual of H01 (Ω). The space H −1 (Ω). . . . . . . . . . . . 159
1, p
5.3 Poincaré inequality and Rellich–Kondrakov theorem in W0 (Ω) . . 161
5.4 Extension operators from W 1, p (Ω) into W 1, p (RN ). Poincaré
inequalities and the Rellich–Kondrakov theorem in W 1, p (Ω) . . . . . 167
5.5 The Fourier approach to Sobolev spaces. The space H s (Ω), s ∈ R . . 173
5.6 Trace theory for W 1, p (Ω) spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
5.7 Sobolev embedding theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
5.8 Capacity theory and elements of potential theory . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

6 Variational problems: Some classical examples 219

6.1 The Dirichlet problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

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vi Contents

6.2 The Neumann problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

6.3 Mixed Dirichlet–Neumann problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
6.4 Heterogeneous media: Transmission conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
6.5 Linear elliptic operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
6.6 The linearized elasticity system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
6.7 Introduction to the Signorini problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
6.8 The Stokes system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
6.9 Convection-diffusion equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
6.10 Semilinear equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
6.11 The nonlinear Laplacian Δ p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
6.12 The obstacle problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

7 The finite element method 285

7.1 The Galerkin method: Further results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
7.2 Description of finite element methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
7.3 An example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
7.4 Convergence of the finite element method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
7.5 Complements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

8 Spectral analysis of the Laplacian 307

8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
8.2 The Laplace–Dirichlet operator: Functional setting . . . . . . . . . . . 309
8.3 Existence of a Hilbertian basis of eigenvectors of the Laplace–Dirichlet
operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
8.4 The Courant–Fisher min-max and max-min formulas . . . . . . . . . . 317
8.5 Multiplicity and asymptotic properties of the eigenvalues of the
Laplace–Dirichlet operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
8.6 A general abstract theory for spectral analysis of elliptic boundary
value problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

9 Convex duality and optimization 333

9.1 Dual representation of convex sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
9.2 Passing from sets to functions: Elements of epigraphical calculus . . . 337
9.3 Legendre–Fenchel transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
9.4 Legendre–Fenchel calculus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
9.5 Subdifferential calculus for convex functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
9.6 Mathematical programming: Multipliers and duality . . . . . . . . . . 364
9.7 A general approach to duality in convex optimization . . . . . . . . . . 380
9.8 Duality in the calculus of variations: First examples . . . . . . . . . . . 387

II Advanced Variational Analysis 391

10 Spaces BV and S BV 393

10.1 The space BV (Ω): Definition, convergences, and approximation . . . 393
10.2 The trace operator, the Green’s formula, and its consequences . . . . 400
10.3 The coarea formula and the structure of BV functions . . . . . . . . . 408
10.4 Structure of the gradient of BV functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
10.5 The space SBV (Ω) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

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11 Relaxation in Sobolev, BV , and Young measures spaces 437

11.1 Relaxation in abstract metrizable spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
11.2 Relaxation of integral functionals with domain W 1, p (Ω, R m ), p > 1 . 440
11.3 Relaxation of integral functionals with domain W 1,1 (Ω, R m ) . . . . . 456
11.4 Relaxation in the space of Young measures in nonlinear elasticity . . 468
11.5 Mass transportation problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

12 Γ -convergence and applications 487

12.1 Γ -convergence in abstract metrizable spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
12.2 Application to the nonlinear membrane model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
12.3 Application to homogenization of composite media . . . . . . . . . . . 496
12.4 Stochastic homogenization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
12.5 Application to image segmentation and phase transitions . . . . . . . . 533

13 Integral functionals of the calculus of variations 547

13.1 Lower semicontinuity in the scalar case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
13.2 Lower semicontinuity in the vectorial case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
13.3 Lower semicontinuity for functionals defined on the space of
measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
13.4 Functionals with linear growth: Lower semicontinuity in BV and
SBV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

14 Application in mechanics and computer vision 569

14.1 Problems in pseudoplasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
14.2 Some variational models in fracture mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
14.3 The Mumford–Shah model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

15 Variational problems with a lack of coercivity 599

15.1 Convex minimization problems and recession functions . . . . . . . . 599
15.2 Nonconvex minimization problems and topological recession . . . . 617
15.3 Some examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
15.4 Limit analysis problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632

16 An introduction to shape optimization problems 643

16.1 The isoperimetric problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
16.2 The Newton problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
16.3 Optimal Dirichlet free boundary problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
16.4 Optimal distribution of two conductors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
16.5 Optimal potentials for elliptic operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654

17 Gradient flows 663

17.1 The classical continuous steepest descent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
17.2 The gradient flow associated to a convex potential . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
17.3 Gradient flow associated to a tame function. Kurdyka–Łojasiewicz
theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
17.4 Sequences of gradient flow problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
17.5 Steepest descent and gradient flow on general metric spaces . . . . . . 766
17.6 Minimizing movements and the implicit Euler scheme . . . . . . . . . 768

Bibliography 771

Index 791

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Preface to the Second Edition

This second edition takes advantage of several comments received by colleagues and stu-
dents. With respect to the first edition (published by SIAM in 2006) several new sections
have been added and the organization of the material is now slightly different. The section
on capacity theory and elements of potential theory has been completed by the notions
of quasi-open sets and quasi-continuity. We also have increased the number of examples
in Section 6 (the linearized elasticity system, obstacles problems, convection-diffusions
and semilinear equations, . . . ). Section 11, devoted to the relaxation theory, has been
completed by a section on mass transportation problems and the Kantorovich relaxed
formulation of the Monge problem. We have added a subsection on stochastic homoge-
nization to the section devoted to the Gamma-convergence: we establish the mathematical
tools coming from ergodic theory and illustrate them in the scope of statistically homo-
geneous materials. Section 16 has been augmented by two examples illustrating the shape
optimization procedure. The main novelty of this second edition is the new and very
comprehensive section devoted to gradient flows, as well as the dynamical approach to
equilibria.

ix

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Preface to the First Edition

Most of the material in this book comes from graduate-level courses on variational analy-
sis, PDEs, and optimization which have been given during the last decades by the authors,
H. Attouch and G. Michaille at the University of Montpellier, France, and G. Buttazzo
at the University of Pisa, Italy. Our objective is twofold.
The first objective is to provide to students the basic tools and methods of variational
analysis and optimization in infinite dimensional spaces together with applications to clas-
sical PDE problems. This corresponds to the first part of the book, Chapters 1 through 9,
and takes place in classical Sobolev spaces. We have made an effort to provide, as much
as possible, a self-contained exposition, and we try to introduce each new development
from various perspectives (historical, numerical, . . .).
The second objective, which is oriented more toward research, is to present new trends
in variational analysis and some of the most recent developments and applications. This
corresponds to the second part of the book, Chapters 10 through 16, where in particular
are introduced the BV (Ω) spaces.
This organization is intended to make the book accessible to a large audience, from
students to researchers, with various backgrounds in mathematics, as well as physicists,
engineers, and others. As a guideline, we try to portray direct methods in modern vari-
ational analysis—one century after D. Hilbert delineated them in his famous lecture at
Collège de France, Paris, 1900. The extraordinary success of these methods is intimately
linked with the development, throughout the 20th century, of new branches in mathe-
matics: functional analysis, measure theory, numerical analysis, (nonlinear) PDEs, and
optimization.
We try to show in this book the interplay among all these theories and also between
theory and applications. Variational methods have proved to be very flexible. In recent
years, they have been developed to study a number of advanced problems of modern tech-
nology, like composite materials, phase transitions, thin structures, large deformations,
fissures, and shape optimization.
To grasp these often involved phenomena, the classical framework of variational anal-
ysis, which is presented in the first part, must be enlarged. This is the motivation for the
introduction in the second part of the book of some advanced techniques, like BV and
SBV spaces, Young measures, Γ -convergence, recession analysis, and relaxation methods.
Finally, we wish to stress that variational analysis is a remarkable example of interna-
tional collaboration. All mathematical schools have contributed to its success, and it is a
modest symbol that this book has been written in collaboration between mathematicians
of two schools, French and Italian. This book owes much to the support of the Universi-
ties of Montpellier and Pisa and of their mathematical departments, and the convention
of cooperation that connects them.

xi

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xii Preface to the First Edition

Acknowledgments. We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the students and
colleagues whose comments and encouragement helped us in writing the final manuscript.
Year by year, the redaction of the book profited much from their comments.
We are grateful to our colleagues in the continuous optimization community, who
strongly influenced the contents of the book and encouraged us from the very beginning
in writing this book. The chapter on convex analysis benefited much from the careful
reading of L. Thibault and M. Valadier.
We would like to thank SIAM and the editorial board of the MPS-SIAM Series on
Optimization for the quality of the editing process. We address special thanks to B. Lacan
in Montpellier, who helped us when we started the project.
Finally, we take this opportunity to express our consideration and gratitude to H. Brezis
and E. De Giorgi, who were our first guides in the discovery of this fascinating world of
variational methods and their applications.

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Chapter 1

Introduction

Let us detail the contents of each of the two parts of the book.

Part I: Basic Variational Principles. In Part I, we follow as a guideline the variational

treatment of the celebrated Dirichlet problem. We show how the program of D. Hilbert,
which was first delineated in his famous lecture at Collège de France in 1900 [241], has
been progressively solved throughout the 20th century. We introduce the basic elements
of variational analysis which allow one to solve this classical problem and closely related
ones, like the Neumann problem and the Stokes problem.
Chapter 2 contains an extensive exposition of weak solution methods in variational
analysis and of the accompanying notions: test functions, the distribution theory of
L. Schwartz, weak convergences, and topologies.
Chapter 3 provides an exposition of the basic abstract variational principles. We en-
hance the importance of the direct method for solving minimization problems and put
to the fore some of its basic topological ingredients: lower semicontinuity, coercivity,
and inf-compactness. We show how weak topologies, reflexivity, and convexity proper-
ties come naturally into play. We insist on the modern approach to optimization theory
where the concept of epigraph of a function plays a central role; see the monograph of
Rockafellar and Wets [330] on variational analysis, where the epigraphical analysis is sys-
tematically developed.
Chapter 4 contains some complements on geometric measure theory. We introduce
in a self-contained way the notion of Hausdorff measure, which allows us to recover,
as special cases, both the Lebesgue measure on an open set of RN and surface measures
(which play an important role, for example, in the definition of the space trace of Sobolev
spaces).
These two basic ingredients, roughly speaking, the generalized differential calculus
of distribution theory and the generalized integration theory of Lebesgue, allow us to
introduce in Chapter 5 the classical Sobolev spaces which provide the right functional
setting for the variational approach to the studied problems. In this new edition, we have
completed the section related to capacity by introducing the notions of quasi-continuity,
quasi-open sets, and capacitary measures. These play a central role in the analysis of the
limiting behavior of variational problems in wildly varying domains (finely perforated
domains, cloud of ice, etc.) and shape optimization (Chapter 16).
All the ingredients of the variational approach to the model examples are now avail-
able: in Chapter 6 we describe some of them, including Dirichlet, Neumann, and mixed

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2 Chapter 1. Introduction

problems. With regard to these examples, we are in the classical favorable situation: we
have to minimize a convex coercive lower semicontinuous function on a reflexive Banach
space. In such a situation, the direct method of Hilbert and Tonelli does apply, although
for the model of linearized elasticity treated in this second edition, coercivity is a deli-
cate point. We also have completed the first edition with three models slightly less clas-
sical: the reaction-diffusion equations for which we apply the Lax–Milgram theorem in
a nonsymmetric case, the semilinear equations, and the obstacle problem, including the
Signorini problem in the framework of linearized elasticity.
Chapters 7 and 8 complement this classic portrait of variational methods by introduc-
ing two of the most powerful numerical tools which allow one to compute approximate
solutions of variational problems: finite element methods and spectral analysis methods.
Each of these two methods corresponds to a very specific type of Galerkin approxima-
tion of an infinite dimensional problem by a sequence of finite dimensional ones. Each
method has its own advantages; for example, finite element methods allow one to treat
engineering problems involving general domains, like the wing of a plane, which explains
their great success.
Around 1970, the study of constrained problems and variational inequalities led Stam-
pacchia, Browder, Brezis, Moreau, Rockafellar, et al. to develop the elements of a unilat-
eral variational analysis. In particular, convex variational analysis has known considerable
success and has familiarized mathematicians with the idea that sets play a decisive role in
analysis. The Fenchel duality, the subdifferential calculus of convex functions, and the
extension of the Fermat rule are striking examples of this new approach. The role of the
epigraph has progressively emerged as essential in the geometrical understanding of these
concepts. Chapter 9 provides a thorough exposition of these elements of convex vari-
ational analysis in infinite dimensional spaces. We stress the importance of the Fenchel
duality, which allows us to associate to each convex variational problem a dual one, whose
solutions have in general a deep physical (or numerical or economical) interpretation as
multipliers.

Part II: Advanced Variational Analysis. This second part corresponds to Chapters 10
through 16 and deals with our second objective, which is to present new trends in varia-
tional analysis. Indeed, in recent years, variational methods have proved to be very flexi-
ble. They have been developed to study a number of advanced problems of modern tech-
nology, like composite materials, image processing, and shape optimization. To grasp
these phenomena, the classical framework of variational analysis, which was studied in
Part I, must be enlarged. Let us describe some of these extensions:

1. The modelization of a large number of problems in physics, image processing, re-

quires the introduction of new functional spaces permitting discontinuities of the
solution. In phase transitions, image segmentation, plasticity theory, and the study
of cracks and fissures, in the study of the wake in fluid dynamics and the shock
theory in mechanics, the solution of the problem presents discontinuities along
one-codimensional manifolds. Its first distributional derivatives are now measures
which may charge zero Lebesgue measure sets, and the solution of these problems
cannot be found in classical Sobolev spaces.
The classical theory of Sobolev spaces, which was developed in Chapter 5, is com-
pleted in Chapter 10 by a self-contained and detailed presentation of these spaces,
BV (Ω), SBV (Ω), B D(Ω). The space BV (Ω), for example, is the space of functions
with bounded variations, and a function u belongs to BV (Ω) iff its first distribu-
tional derivatives are bounded measures. The SBV (Ω) space is the subspace of

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BV (Ω) which consists of functions whose first distributional derivatives are bounded
measures with no Cantor part.

2. In Chapter 12, we introduce the concept of Γ -convergence, which provides a pa-

rametrized version of the direct method in variational analysis.
Following Stampacchia’s work, Mosco [304], [305] and Joly [251] introduced the
Mosco-epiconvergence (1970) of sequences of convex functions to study approxi-
mation and perturbation schemes in variational analysis and potential theory.
The general topological concept, without any convexity assumption, has progres-
sively emerged, and De Giorgi in 1975 introduced the notion of Γ -convergence for
sequences of functions. It corresponds to the topological set convergence of the
epigraphs, whence the equivalent terminology “epi-convergence.” This concept
has been successfully applied to a large variety of approximation and perturbation
problems in calculus of variations and mechanics: homogenization of composite
materials, materials with many small holes and porous media, thin structures and
reinforcement problems, and so forth.
We illustrate the concept by describing some recent applications to thin structures,
composite material, phase transitions, and image segmentation. We have completed
the first edition with an introduction to the ergodic theory of subadditive processes
and its application to stochastic homogenization.

3. Chapters 11 and 13 deal with the question of lower semicontinuity and relaxation
of functionals of calculus of variations. Indeed, as a general rule, when applying the
direct method to a functional F which is not lower semicontinuous, one obtains
that minimizing sequences converge to solutions of the relaxed problem, which is
the minimization of the lower semicontinuous envelope cl F of F .
In the vectorial case, that is, when functionals are defined on Sobolev spaces
W 1, p (Ω, R m ), Ω ⊂ RN , relaxation with respect to the weak topology of W 1, p (Ω, R m )
(or strong topology of L p (Ω, R m )) leads to the important concepts of quasi-convexity
(in the sense of Morrey), polyconvexity, and rank-one convexity. We consider as
well the case of functionals with linear growth and the corresponding lower semi-
continuity and relaxation problems on BV and SBV spaces. All these notions play
an important role in the modeling of large deformations in mechanics and plastic-
ity, as described in Chapter 14. Following the microstructure school of Ball and
James, in the modeling of the solid/solid phase transformations, the density energy
possesses a multiwell structure. An alternative and appropriate procedure consists
in relaxing the corresponding free energy functional in the space of Young measures
generated by gradients.
To complete Chapter 11, in this second edition, we have introduced the Kantorovich
relaxed formulation of the Monge transport problem: the goal is to find a proba-
bility on the product space RN × RN , which minimizes a suitable relaxed trans-
portation cost, i.e., the pth power of the so-called Wasserstein distance between
two probability measures on RN .

4. Another important aspect of the direct method concerns the coercivity property.
In Chapter 15, we examine how the method works when the variational problem
has a lack of coercivity. In that case, existence of solutions relies on compatibility
conditions, whose general formulation involves recession functions.

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4 Chapter 1. Introduction

5. The next topic considered, in Chapter 16, is shape optimization, which is a good
illustration of the powerfulness of direct methods in variational analysis and also of
their limitations. This chapter has been completed, in this second edition, by the
description of another interesting case of the shape optimization problem, consist-
ing in establishing the existence of optimal potentials for some suitable cost func-
tionals, as, for example, the integral cost functionals newly introduced in Chapter 5.
5. The final chapter is the main contribution of this new edition. Indeed, the previous
edition was entirely devoted to the mathematical tools related to variational prob-
lems in a static framework. This new edition completes the previous one by treating
in some depth the concept of gradient flows. We have chosen to introduce this no-
tion through optimization: when the potential is continuously differentiable, the
Cauchy problem governed by the associated gradient vector field is nothing but
the classical continuous steepest descent implemented to minimize the potential.
The analysis of the generalized steepest descent is valid for arbitrary convex lower
semicontinuous potentials on a Hilbert space and also may be generalized to com-
plete metric spaces. This last generalization is not fortuitous and is involved in some
cases of cost functionals coming from mass transportation theory. Evolution equa-
tions in general describe the changing of a physical (or economic, or social, etc.)
system with respect to the time. The Cauchy problem governed by a gradient flow
arises, for instance, when one wants to model the heat equation or the Stefan-type
problem. Another important aspect of the concept of gradient flows intervenes in
the study of some homogenization problems, in which suitable variational conver-
gences for sequences of gradient flows provide a powerful framework to describe
the limit Cauchy problems. These problems arise, for example, in the analysis of
the diffusion through heterogeneous media, or in first-order evolution problems
with small parameters, provided that the potentials involved are convex.

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Chapter 2

Weak solution methods

in variational analysis

2.1 The Dirichlet problem: Historical presentation

Throughout this book, we adopt the following notation: Ω is an open subset of RN (N ≤ 3
for applications in classical mechanics), and x = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xN ) is a generic point in Ω. The
topological boundary of Ω is denoted by ∂ Ω.
Let g : ∂ Ω −→ R be a given function which is defined on the boundary of Ω. The
Dirichlet problem consists in finding a function u : Ω −→ R which satisfies

Δu = 0 on Ω, (2.1)
u=g on ∂ Ω. (2.2)

The operator Δ is the Laplacian


N ∂ 2u ∂ 2u ∂ 2u
Δu = = + ··· + ;
i =1 ∂ xi2 ∂ x12 ∂ xN2

it is equal to the sum of the second partial derivatives of u with respect to each variable
x1 , x2 , . . . , xN . Equation (2.1) is the Laplace equation, and a solution of this equation is
said to be harmonic on Ω. Clearly, there are many harmonic functions.
The following examples of harmonic functions illustrate how rich this family is:

• u(x) = N a x + b (affine function) is harmonic on RN ;
i =1 i i

• u(x) = ax12 + b x22 + c x32 is harmonic on R3 iff a + b + c = 0;

• u(x) = e x1 cos x2 and v(x) = e x1 sin x2 are harmonic on R2 (note that u(x1 , x2 ) =
Re e (x1 +i x2 ) and v(x1 , x2 ) = Im e (x1 +i x2 ) );
• u(x) = (x12 + x22 + x32 )−1/2 is harmonic on R3 \{0} (Newtonian potential).
The study of harmonic functions is a central topic of the so-called potential theory
and of harmonic analysis. We will see further, as the above examples suggest, the close
connections between this theory, the theory of the complex variable, and the potential
theory.
Thus, we can reformulate the Dirichlet problem by saying that we are looking for a
harmonic function on Ω which satisfies the boundary data u = g on ∂ Ω. It is called a

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8 Chapter 2. Weak solution methods in variational analysis

boundary value problem. The condition u = g on ∂ Ω, which consists in prescribing the

value of the function u on the boundary of Ω, is called the Dirichlet boundary condition
and gives rise to the name of the problem.
Let us consider, for illustration, the elementary case N = 1. Take Ω = ]a, b [ an open
bounded interval. Given two real numbers g1 and g2 , the Dirichlet problem reads as
follows: find u : [a, b ] −→ R such that
 
u = 0 on ]a, b [,
u(a) = g1 , u(b ) = g2 .

Clearly, this problem has a unique solution, whose graph in R2 is the line segment joining
point (a, g1 ) to point (b , g2 ).
We will see that for an open bounded subset Ω and under some regularity hypotheses
on Ω and g covering most practical situations, one can prove existence and uniqueness of
a solution of the Dirichlet problem. Indeed, this is a long story whose important steps
are summarized below.
It is in 1782 that the Laplace equation appears for the first time. When studying the
orbits of the planets, Laplace discovered that the Newtonian gravitational potential of a
distribution of mass of density ρ on a domain Ω ⊂ R3 , which is given by the formula

1 ρ(y)
u(x) = d y, (2.3)
4π Ω |x − y|

satisfies the equation

Δu = 0 on R3 \Ω̄. (2.4)
Indeed, it is a good exercise to establish this formula. One first verifies that the Newtonian
potential
v(x1 , x2 , x3 ) = (x12 + x22 + x32 )−1/2
satisfies Δv = 0 on R3 \{0}. Then a direct derivation under the integral sign yields that u
is harmonic on R3 \Ω̄.
In 1813, Poisson establishes that on Ω the potential u satisfies

−Δu = ρ on Ω, (2.5)

which is the so-called Poisson equation.

The central role played by the Laplace and Poisson equations in mathematical physics
appeared with more and more evidence, especially because of the work of Gauss. In 1813,
Gauss established the following formula (which is often called the Gauss formula or the
−
→
divergence theorem). Given a vector field V : Ω ⊂ R3 −→ R3 ,
 
−→ −→
div V (x) d x = V (x) · −
→
n (x) d s(x), (2.6)
Ω ∂Ω

−
→
which states that the volume integral of the divergence of the vector field V is equal to
−
→
the global outward flux of V through the boundary of Ω. In the above formula, if we
denote
−→
V (x) = (v1 (x), v2 (x), v3 (x)),
−→  ∂ vi ∂ v1 ∂ v2 ∂ v3
div V (x) = (x) = (x) + (x) + (x)
i ∂ xi ∂ x1 ∂ x2 ∂ x3

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2.1. The Dirichlet problem: Historical presentation 9

−
→
is the divergence of V . The vector −
→
n (x) is the unit vector which is orthogonal to ∂ Ω at
x and which is oriented toward the outside of Ω. The measure d s is the two-dimensional
Hausdorff measure on ∂ Ω.
Let us briefly explain how the mathematical formulation of conservation laws in
−
→
physics leads to the Laplace equation. Suppose that the vector field V derives from a
potential u, that is,
 
−
→ ∂u
V (x) = D u(x) = gradu(x) = ∇u(x) = (x) . (2.7)
∂ xi i =1,...,N

(This is the most commonly used notation.) Suppose, moreover, that the vector field
−→  − → →
V (x) is such that ∂G
V ·− n d s = 0 for all closed surfaces ∂ G ⊂ Ω.
By the Gauss theorem, it follows that

−→
div V d x = 0 ∀ G ⊂ Ω
G

and hence
−→
div V = 0 on Ω. (2.8)
From (2.7) and (2.8), noticing that

div(gradu) = Δu,

we obtain
Δu = 0,
that is, u is harmonic.
The above argument is valid both in the case of the gravitational vector field of Newton
and in the case of the electrostatic field of Coulomb in the regions where there is no mass
(respectively, charges). With the help of this formula, Gauss was able to prove a number
of important properties of harmonic functions, like the mean value property; this was
the beginning of the potential theory.
Riemann, who was successively a student of Gauss (1846–1847 in Göttingen) and of
Dirichlet (1847–1849 in Berlin), established the foundations of the theory of the complex
variable and made the link (when N = 2) with the Laplace equation.
Let us recall that for any function z ∈ C −→ f (z), which is assumed to be derivable
as a function of the complex variable z ( f is then said to be holomorphic), its real and
imaginary parts P and Q ( f (z) = P (x, y) + iQ(x, y), where z = x + i y) satisfy the so-
called Cauchy–Riemann equations
⎧
⎪ ∂P ∂Q
⎪
⎪
⎨∂ x = ∂ y ,
(2.9)
⎪
⎪ ∂P ∂Q
⎪
⎩ =− .
∂y ∂x

It follows that

∂ 2Q ∂ 2Q ∂ 2P ∂ 2P
ΔP = − = 0, ΔQ = − − = 0.
∂ y∂ x ∂ x∂ y ∂ x∂ y ∂ y∂ x

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10 Chapter 2. Weak solution methods in variational analysis

Thus, the real part and the imaginary part of a holomorphic function are harmonic. This
approach allows, for example, solution in an elegant way of the Dirichlet problem in a
disc. Take Ω = D(0, 1) = {z ∈ C : |z| < 1}, the unit disc centered at the origin in R2 .
Given g : ∂ D −→ R a continuous function, we want to solve the Dirichlet problem

Δu = 0 on D,
(2.10)
u = g on ∂ D.

Let us start with the Fourier expansion of the 2π-periodic function


g (e i θ ) = cn ( g )e i nθ , (2.11)
n∈Z
 +π
1
where cn ( g ) = 2π −π
g (e i t )e −i n t d t . Note that the above Fourier series converges in
an L2 (−π, +π) norm sense (Dirichlet theorem). Indeed, when starting with the Fourier
expansion of the boundary data g , one can give an explicit formula for the solution u of
the corresponding Dirichlet problem:

u(r e i θ ) := cn ( g )r |n| e i nθ . (2.12)
n∈Z

Clearly, when taking r = 1, one obtains u = g on ∂ D. Thus, the only point one has to
verify is that u is harmonic on D. Take r < 1 and replace cn ( g ) by its integral expression
in (2.12). By a standard argument based on the uniform convergence of the series, one can
  +π
exchange the symbols n and −π to obtain
 +π 
iθ
1
u(r e ) = g (e i t ) r |n| e i n(θ−t ) d t .
2π −π n∈Z

Let us introduce 
P r (θ) = r |n| e i nθ , (2.13)
n∈Z

the so-called Poisson kernel, and observe that (we denote z = r e i θ )


eit + z 1− r2
P r (θ − t ) = Re i t = . (2.14)
e −z 1 − 2r cos(θ − t ) + r 2
Hence,
 +π
1 eit + z
u(r e i θ ) = Re g (e i t )d t , (2.15)
2π −π eit − z
and u appears as the real part of a holomorphic function, which says that u is harmonic
on D. Using (2.14) one obtains the Poisson formula
 +π
1 1− r2
u(r e i θ ) = g (e i t ) d t . (2.16)
2π −π 1 − 2r cos(θ − t ) + r 2
By similar arguments, one can explicitly solve the Dirichlet problem on a square
]0, a[×]0, a[ of R2 . Unfortunately, these methods can be used only in the two-dimensional
case.
The modern general treatment of the Dirichlet problem starts with the Dirichlet prin-
ciple, whose formulation goes back to Gauss (1839), Lord Kelvin, and Dirichlet. It can be
formulated as follows.

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2.1. The Dirichlet problem: Historical presentation 11

The solution of the Dirichlet problem is the solution of the following minimization
problem:
 
 N  
∂v 2
min d x : v = g on ∂ Ω . (2.17)
Ω i =1 ∂ xi

The functional
N 
  
∂v 2
v → J (v) := dx
Ω i =1 ∂ xi

is called the Dirichlet integral or Dirichlet energy. Thus, the Dirichlet principle states
that the solution of the Dirichlet problem minimizes, over all functions v satisfying the
boundary data v = g on ∂ Ω, the Dirichlet energy. Equivalently,

J (u) ≤ J (v) ∀v, v = g on ∂ Ω,
u = g on ∂ Ω,

that is, u is characterized by a minimization of the energy principle.

One can easily verify, at least heuristically, that the solution u of the minimization
problem (2.17) is a solution of the Dirichlet problem (2.1), (2.2). Indeed, the Laplace
equation (2.1) can be seen as the optimality condition satisfied by the solution of the min-
imization problem (2.17). The celebrated Fermat’s rule which asserts that the derivative
of a function is equal to zero at any point u where f achieves a minimum (respectively,
maximum) can be developed in our situation by using the notion of directional derivative.
When dealing with problems coming from variational analysis, the so-obtained optimal-
ity condition is called the Euler equation.
Thus let us take v : Ω −→ R, which satisfies v = 0 on ∂ Ω. Then, for any t ∈ R, u + t v
still satisfies u + t v = g on ∂ Ω and, since u minimizes J on the set {w = g on ∂ Ω},
we have
J (u) ≤ J (u + t v).
Let us compute for any t ∈ R, t = 0

1  1
J (u + t v) − J (u) = |D u + t Dv|2 − |D u|2
t t
Ω 
= 2 D u · Dv d x + t |Dv|2 .
Ω Ω

For any t > 0, this is a nonnegative quantity, and thus by letting t −→ 0+


D u · Dv d x ≥ 0.
Ω

By taking t < 0 and letting t −→ 0− , we obtain the reverse inequality


D u · Dv d x ≤ 0.
Ω

Finally

D u · Dv d x = 0 for any v = 0 on ∂ Ω.
Ω

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12 Chapter 2. Weak solution methods in variational analysis

Taking v regular and after integration by parts, we obtain


(Δu)v d x = 0 for any v regular, v = 0 on ∂ Ω,
Ω

that is, Δu = 0 on ∂ Ω.
Riemann recognized the importance of this principle but he did not discuss its validity.
In 1870, Weierstrass, who was a very systematic and rigorous mathematician, discovered
when studying some results of his friend Riemann that the Dirichlet principle raises some
difficulties. Indeed, Weierstrass proposed the following example (apparently close to the
Dirichlet problem!):
 +1  2 
2
dv
min x d x : v(−1) = a, v(+1) = b , (2.18)
−1 dx

which fails to have a solution. A minimizing sequence for (2.18) can be obtained by con-
sidering the viscosity approximation problem
 +1    2 
2
1 dv
min x + 2 d x : v(−1) = a, v(+1) = b , (2.19)
−1 n dx

which now has a unique solution un given by

a+b a − b arctan nx
un (x) = − , n = 1, 2, . . . .
2 2 arctan n
One can directly verify that un satisfies the boundary data and that
 +1  2
2
d un
x d x −→ 0 as n −→ +∞.
−1 dx

Thus the value of the infimum of (2.18) is zero. But there is no regular function (contin-
uous, piecewise C1 ) which satisfies the boundary conditions and such that
 +1  2
2
du
x d x = 0.
−1 dx

Such a function would satisfy u = constant on ] − 1, +1[ which is incompatible with the
boundary data when a = b .
As we will see, the pathology of the Weierstrass example comes from the coefficient x 2
in front of ( dd vx )2 which vanishes (at zero) on the domain Ω = (−1, +1). As a result, there is
a lack of uniform ellipticity or coercivity, which is not the case in the Dirichlet problem.
Thus, the Weierstrass example is not a counterexample to the Dirichlet principle; its merit
is to underline the shortcomings of this principle. Moreover, it raises a decisive question,
which is to understand in which class of functions one has to look for the solution of
the Dirichlet principle. Until that date, it was commonly admitted that the functions to
consider have to be regular C1 or C2 (differentiation being taken in the classical sense),
depending on the situation.
It is only in 1900 with a famous conference at the Collège de France in Paris that
Hilbert formulates the foundations of the modern variational approach to the Dirichlet
principle and hence to the Dirichlet problem. These ideas, which have been worked out

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Other documents randomly have
different content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Message from
Venus
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
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you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Message from Venus

Author: R. R. Winterbotham

Illustrator: Michael Mirando

Release date: March 15, 2021 [eBook #64826]

Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MESSAGE FROM

VENUS ***
MESSAGE from VENUS
 by R. R. WINTERBOTHAM

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

Comet January 41.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The Venusians had one admirable characteristic. When they set out
to do a thing, nothing could stop them. Captain Paul Bonnet had
said something to this effect to Major Rogers and it made the old
man so angry that he almost court-martialed the youth.
"We're going to stop them!" the major roared.
Captain Bonnet glanced up into the sky, already dark with the
ballooned bodies of the Venusian bipeds. The creatures looked like
huge sausages, except that there was something deadly about them.
On the approaches to Outpost 53, sweating men labored on the
caissons of twelve batteries of Amorg twenty-fives, pouring atomic
destruction into a solidly packed mass of Venusians advancing
through the wire entanglements.
Captain Bonnet nodded to the major. "You're right, sir!" He turned to
the members of his crew who were manning an anti-rocket gun.
"Did you hear that? Knock 'em out of the sky!"
The gun coughed Amorg vapor into the sky. A gaping hole appeared
directly overhead where the bodies of at least a hundred Venusians
were disintegrated. Before the gun could be recharged the hole
disappeared, filled by more bulging Venusians.
Lieutenant Bill Riley wiped the sweat from his face with his soiled
coat sleeve.
"It's like bailing a boat with a sieve!" he said.
Major Rogers looked as though he were going to have apoplexy.
"We'll get 'em," Captain Bonnet announced, winking at his
lieutenant.
Lieutenant Riley grinned. There was a great deal in common
between the captain and the lieutenant, besides the fact that they
were both officers of the same space ship—The Piece of Sky—which
now lay ruined on the landing field, its plates dissolved by acid
poured from the sky by the Venusians.
Both officers were young and husky. Both had seen action on the
Martian canals and this wasn't the first meeting they had had with
Venusians.
"If they had any sense they'd know they were licked," the captain
added, casting his steely blue eyes at the entanglements. The place
was a grisly sight, strewn with parts of thousands of long-bodied
Venusians.
But the captain knew and the lieutenant knew—perhaps even the
major knew—that Outpost 53 was worth any sacrifice the Venusians
were willing to make. If this post were captured, the Venusians could
control their planet again. There were any number of reasons why it
was best that the planet be governed by terrestrials, and not all of
them were commercial. The Venusians were murderous, evil,
destructive creatures who hated every other living thing in the
universe.
Captain Bonnet checked his casualties. Of his crew of sixty, three
were dead and twelve paralyzed by the poisoned darts the
Venusians used. The other forty-five were half dead from
exhaustion. Three days of fighting was about all any man could
stand.
Captain Bonnet's men had been in a more or less exposed position
during the first part of the battle and their casualties had been heavy
while they tried to prevent The Piece of Sky's destruction. But
probably ten percent of the fifteen hundred men who manned
Outpost 53 were out of the action now, the majority of them
suffering temporary paralysis from dart poison. The captain realized
that the attack would continue until the Venusians captured the
post.
The radio power house had been destroyed first of all. Then the
space ship had been wrecked. The outpost was cut off from
communication with the earth. Reinforcements who could attack the
Venusians from above and disperse them would not be due for two
months. If Outpost 53 lasted three weeks, it would mean fighting to
the last man.
Lieutenant Riley reached into his bag between coughs of the Amorg
gun. He brought out a slender bottle and pulled the cork. He pressed
the bottle into Captain Bonnet's hand.
"Martian Zingo," the lieutenant said. "A friend of mine gave it to me
for a little service in the Canal campaign on Mars. I've been saving it
for a special occasion and it looks like this is it. Here's to our short
and merry lives, Captain!"

Night brought some relief, although the poisoned darts still rained on
the outpost and the ground was lighted with flashes of the atom
guns.
Major Rogers, his face drawn with weariness, stomped to the
spacemen's battery.
"We've got to get a man through to earth, Captain," the major said.
"Can't your ship be fixed?"
"We've got to get a ship through to earth, Captain," the Major said.
"Can't your ship be fixed?" The Captain shook his head slowly.

The captain shook his head. "No, sir."

"Doesn't your ship carry a lifeboat?"
"It does, but you couldn't make the earth in that—and survive. The
lifeboat carries just enough fuel to land on a planet. That fuel would
be used on the takeoff."
"But if you got off Venus and aimed the boat toward the earth,
nothing would keep it from getting there, would it?"
"No, I suppose not, sir."
"Then we've got to do it. Yes, yes, I know. It's suicide. But it's
suicide not to try it. We simply must get a message through to the
earth. We'll ask for volunteers."
"No need of that, Major," the captain said. "I'll make the trip."
"One man couldn't do it," broke in Lieutenant Riley. "I'm going
along."
"You know what it means?" the captain asked his friend.
"Any spaceman knows what a forty-five million mile trip in a lifeboat
means, you mug," the lieutenant replied. "But I'd rather die quickly
in a crash landing than to face what the Venusians probably have
thought up for us when they whittle us down to their size."
"By gad! You're both heroes."
"Umph!" said Captain Bonnet, who had been a hero before.
"What's that?"
"I was about to say: we'd better get started. It's getting late."
"Good! Take a detail to your ship and get the lifeboat ready. Then
you and the lieutenant get some rest. I'll call you in an hour for the
takeoff."

The Piece of Sky's lifeboat was scarcely one hundred feet in length.
It was powered by fourteen rocket valves, fed from detachable fuel
containers, so arranged that as fast as a fuel drum was emptied it
could be dropped from the rocket. The ship was streamlined from
the nose to tail, but it was flattened on the bottom, so that either of
two possible types of landing maneuvers could be attempted.
Attempted was the correct word, for lifeboats of space ships were
never the last word in navigable machines. They were to be used
only as a last resort under desperate circumstances. No lifeboat had
ever been built as a machine for lengthy interplanetary travel. But
the universe is foolproof to a certain extent. Any piece of matter is
sure to obey the laws of the universe. Captain Bonnet supposed that
if the lifeboat succeeded in taking off, and if it were put on the right
orbit, it could reach the earth in time to send reinforcements back to
Venus.
As Captain Paul Bonnet and Lieutenant Bill Riley took their places in
the ship, Major Rogers explained that the craft had been equipped
with a small parachute to be used just before the lifeboat crashed in
dropping a message to authorities that Outpost 53 had been
attacked and that reinforcements were needed.
"After you drop the message, you men are on your own," the major
explained.
"You mean we're to try to get out of it, if we can?" asked Captain
Bonnet dryly. "Humph!"
A few minutes later the lifeboat's rockets roared and the craft soared
upward through Venusian clouds to deliver a message to Terra.
Captain Bonnet watched the rockets drain the fuel tank on the
takeoff. His gravity gauge told him that he was going to make it.
Once beyond Venus and nosed toward the earth, which was
approaching conjunction, no more fuel would be needed. The ship
would be seized by terrestrial gravity and brought home. There
would be a period of uncomfortable warmth as the sides of the ship
became red hot in the earth's atmosphere. A few moments of frantic
work dropping the parachute over some populous region of the
earth, and then a crash that would mean the end.
Each man had gone over the details of what he was to do. Each man
had told himself that there was no end to this trip except death, yet
each man hoped that in some way he could avoid the final disaster.
If there were only some way a space ship could be landed without
fuel!
"It's no use," Captain Bonnet said. "Up to the end of the Twentieth
Century, when all problems dealing with space navigation were
worked out, excepting space flight itself, all of the experts agreed
that there was no practical way of landing a space ship. It wasn't
until the Twenty-first Century that the spiral landing orbit was
discovered and it took another century to discover the Rippler force
method of landing a ship intact."
"At least the Rippler method's out," Lieutenant Riley said dryly.
"We'd have to have fifty gallons of fuel to land a fourteen-valve
lifeboat on its rocket jets."
"Even the spiral landing orbit would require twenty-five gallons,"
Captain Bonnet pointed out. "Both methods are out. We've got about
two gallons of rocket fuel in the tank and we'll need most of it in the
cooling system to keep us from burning up until we can drop the
message."
Hours ticked swiftly away as the space ship moved closer to the
earth. The craft had reached the middle of its course, where
terrestrial and Venusian gravities neutralized, with speed to spare.
From now on it would accelerate slowly under the pull of the earth's
attraction and it could be expected to enter the earth's atmosphere
at a speed greater than 200 miles a second. The entire trip from
Venus to the earth would take about 72 hours. The job of
decelerating from 200 miles a second to less than ten would be
taken care of in the 1,000 miles of atmosphere lying above the
earth. It could be accomplished with no more discomfort than a
passenger in a car experiences in a sudden stop. But the last ten
miles per second deceleration would mean the overcoming of the
force of gravity itself.
Captain Bonnet considered the danger of the moon interfering with
the ship's flight to earth. He discovered, to his relief, that the moon
was out of the way, on the opposite side of the earth. At least he
would not have to use precious fuel to keep the craft from landing
on the moon.
He checked the cooling apparatus. It seemed in perfect working
condition and should keep the two passengers from roasting alive
until the ship crashed. At least this was a comfort.
Lieutenant Riley, who had been sleeping, opened his eyes.
"Say, Paul, I've an idea!"
"Yeah? Spill it."
"Why couldn't we keep the ship in an orbit outside the earth's
atmosphere until it is sighted by telescope?"
"There are two pretty good reasons for that," Paul Bonnet replied.
"In the first place we'll be going too fast. If we tried to get into an
orbit we'd sail right out again. To become a satellite of the earth—
and I suppose that's what you're thinking of—we'd have to slow
ourselves down to exactly the right speed necessary to overcome
the earth's gravity. That would be hard to do with the instruments
on this lifeboat, even if we had the fuel necessary to brake. In the
second place, if we got close enough to the earth to be seen by a
telescope, our orbital speed would be too fast for any 'scope to keep
us in focus. We'd be mistaken on photographs for a meteor."
"I guess we're up against it, eh Paul?"
"I've been thinking," Captain Bonnet said.
"What's this, a joke?"
"There's one plan that might work—a suicide plan. But even that
might be spoiled by an accident."
"If there's a chance we ought to take it."
"The message goes overboard first," the captain said. "After that we
save ourselves. I've been studying the charts and I know just where
we ought to land—that is in which hemisphere."
"Yeah? Which?"
"We're going to land somewhere in the Pacific."
"That's a nice thought. Who's going to pick up our message in the
middle of the Pacific?"
"That's what gave me the idea of our suicide plan," Captain Bonnet
said. "In order to drop the message over a city, we've got to float
around the earth until we get near one...."
Captain Bonnet began to explain his idea. The ship was going to hit
the earth's atmosphere at a terrific pace. The deceleration would be
pretty stiff—might be fatal—unless it were done gradually, but
spacemen had learned the trick of pancaking a flat-bottomed craft
on top of the atmosphere, then diving; pancaking again, diving
again, until the deceleration was accomplished.
This method of deceleration usually was accomplished with some
use of rockets and it led to the old time spiral landing orbit. The
atmosphere was the chief brake and the rockets were used to
maneuver the craft into dives and pancakes. A first class cooling
system was needed, of course, to carry off the heat of atmospheric
friction, but the lifeboat was equipped with a cooling system and
there was nothing to worry about from this source.
But the lifeboat had little fuel. Captain Bonnet, however, had flown
airplanes. He knew that braking could be accomplished without fuel
if the flat-bottomed ship were used as a plane. He planned to use
airplane tactics to slow the ship down to a speed closely
approximating the escape velocity of the earth—6.9 miles a second.
This would enable the ship to soar over the earth until it was over a
good sized city, where the message from Outpost 53 would be
dropped.
"But if we land at that speed—and gravity will see to it we don't hit
much slower—we'll be buried deep in the ground. Even if we hit the
ocean, the deceleration will kill us—"
"Would it? There have been records of meteors striking the ground
so lightly they did little more than raise a cloud of dust."
"We're not a meteor."
"We're practically a meteor and there's one chance in a million that
we can duplicate what a meteor can do, Bill. It's our only chance."
"What do you want me to do?"

Rocket engineers in developing machines for space travel had found

speed the foremost bugaboo. It was the speed a rocket had to attain
to leave terrestrial gravity that balked engineers. There also was
man's instinctive fear of going fast, in spite of the assurances of
science that speed, in itself, was harmless. It was acceleration and
deceleration that killed people.
One might travel seven miles a second indefinitely and suffer no ill
effects, once he got going that rate of speed. However, one might
die quickly while attaining it. Drugs enabled spacemen to withstand
several gravities of acceleration or deceleration without fatal effects
and there were a few of these pills aboard. But any speed change
greater than nine or ten gravities would be dangerous under any
conditions.
The craft neared the earth. Already the travelers could make out the
dim outlines of the continental areas.
The gravity gauge registered the earth's pull strongly and Captain
Bonnet calculated that they were nearing the outer limits of the
atmosphere. He twisted a valve a fraction of a turn.
From a steering jet, a tiny needle of flame shot into the ether. From
another jet, a second flame glowed for an instant. The space ship
turned, wheeling the onrushing earth out of line with the lifeboat's
prow. Now the huge, radiant ball peeked into the craft through the
glass window in the floor, but the ship's direction of travel continued
toward it as before.
Captain Bonnet shut off the valves, conserving every ounce of rocket
fuel that remained in the tanks. Lieutenant Riley started the cooling
mechanism and for an instant the craft became uncomfortably cold.
This discomfort lasted only a few minutes, however, for the craft
soon began to strike the first atoms of the atmosphere and its sides
began to glow with heat. The space ship was fast becoming a
meteor flashing into the atmosphere of the earth.
There was a sudden jerk. Once more Bonnet twisted the valve,
nosing the streamlined craft downward slightly to allow these atoms
of air to strike the sides less forcefully. There was danger of a
blackout if the deceleration were too fast.
The ship dived forward and Bonnet used more precious fuel to turn
it broadside again. The craft slowed, this time not so violently.
The atoms of the atmosphere were audible now as whistling
screams as the ship spiraled one thousand miles above the earth.
Captain Bonnet watched the air speed indicator. For a long time it
stood at twenty miles a second—the highest speed it would register.
Then it began to slow: nineteen, fifteen, twelve, nine, seven miles a
second.
Instead of decreasing the speed further, he nosed the craft down.
The speed increased slightly, and then, like an airplane in flight, he
brought the craft slowly broadside by degrees. The effect of the slow
turn was to catch the atoms on the flat bottom so that the
downward rush was transformed into a horizontal rush. The craft
was speeding in an orbit parallel to the surface of the earth. Captain
Bonnet had brought the space ship out of a tail spin.
Instantly he shut off the fuel valves, leaving the remainder of the
fuel available for the cooling apparatus.
Lieutenant Riley looked wide-eyed at the hemisphere beneath the
craft.
"Well, we're here and we've less than a gallon of fuel," he said.
"What next?"
"Unless there's an accident, we're going to land on an ounce or
two," Captain Bonnet replied. "A meteor doesn't use any fuel, but it
has accidents. That tiny bit of fuel is going to keep us from having
an accident—I hope."
"That fuel is mighty potent," the lieutenant admitted. "It's the most
powerful explosive known. But old Terra's gravity is a pretty big
thing, too."
"For every action there must be a reaction," Captain Bonnet said.
"Strangely, no one ever considered this principle in respect to
coming down, as well as going up."
"Gravity is action and you're the reaction in that case," the lieutenant
observed.
"Not exactly. The escape velocity of the earth is gravity in reverse—if
we can twist our minds around to think of it that way. We
manufacture the escape velocity with our rocket fuel and use it to
neutralize gravity. An object going 6.9 miles a second goes far
enough around the earth in a second that the earth's curvature
doesn't catch up with it, so to speak."
"I hope you're sure of your reactions, although it doesn't make a lot
of difference if we get this message down."
"We're hitting the atmosphere at a speed close to the escape
velocity of the earth. If we were going that speed we'd never get
any closer to the surface. But we're being slowed so that we're
falling—not very fast, but fast enough. Our speed around the earth
is about 6.9 miles a second, minus a few decimals. Our speed
toward the earth isn't very fast—I'd say a few feet a second. Our
only problem now is to stop our forward speed without speeding our
downward speed."
"I don't suppose you're very optimistic about it?" the lieutenant
asked, hopefully.
"No," the captain admitted, "but we can try. You've seen airplanes
land at speeds of one hundred miles an hour or more. That was
their speed forward. Their speed downward was measured in feet
per minute. That's our problem now. We've got to land like an
airplane—make a deadstick landing without crashing."
"Oh we might be able to land, but the minute we touch, some of our
forward speed is going to get us into trouble. Remember, an airplane
has wheels."
Captain Bonnet pointed to a small globe painted with a map of the
world. His finger touched a dot in the South Pacific near the
Antarctic continent at 60 degrees south latitude and 120 degrees
west longitude.
"That's Dougherty Island," he said. "Between that island and San
Francisco are 6,300 miles of empty Pacific ocean. We're going to try
to land near Dougherty Island at a speed so fast we'll barely touch
the surface of the water. But as we touch the water, the frictional
heat of the sides of our space ship will transform the water instantly
into steam. The steam will cushion our ship against shock and
decelerate us rapidly—but not too rapidly for endurance. The stop
will be rough, but we can take it. We ought to be able to stop in
6,300 miles."
"Whew! A steam landing!"

Captain Bonnet kept his hands on the control, ready to use a few
drops of precious fuel to keep the craft in its spiral parallel to the
surface of the earth. The earth seemed to float upward slowly to
meet the space ship.
The interior of the craft grew uncomfortably hot, but the cooling
system worked.
A vast expanse of white appeared directly below the craft. It was the
South Polar ice cap.
"We're over James Ellsworth Land," the captain said, checking his
position. "That's about twenty-three degrees east of the longitude of
Dougherty Island. That's lucky."
"Lucky?" said the lieutenant.
"We can circle the earth once, drop our message over some city and
get back on the right longitude," the captain explained. "It'll take us
about an hour and a half at our present speed to make the
circumnavigation. In that time the earth will turn twenty-two and
one-half degrees beneath us."
The Pacific ocean flashed beneath the craft. The ship struck the
continent on the coast of Mexico and skirted above eastern Texas.
Over Kansas City, Captain Bonnet jerked a lever to release the
message of the beleaguered Venusian garrison.
The lieutenant watched it fall slowly down toward the ground.
Then he groaned.
"We've failed!" he said. "The parachute dropped in the Missouri
river! The last chance to save the garrison is lost!"
Captain Bonnet turned to his companion. "It isn't the last chance—if
our landing works!"
The craft soared northward into Canada, passing some distance west
of Hudson Bay. It crossed the Arctic sea, reached Siberia and then
zoomed southward, flying dangerously close to the tall peaks of the
Himalayas. Each minute saw it moving closer to the earth.
The craft shot across the Indian Ocean and entered the Antarctic
again. The Antarctic continent was reached near Douglas Island and
it crossed Enderby and Kemp lands toward the pole.
The metal monster was scarcely two thousand feet high as it soared
over the South Pole. The loss of the natural elevation of the polar
plateau left the ship about the same distance above the surface of
the earth as it approached the ocean again.
Captain Bonnet used a few more ounces of fuel to keep the craft in
its course, headed always toward the horizon, which at 1,600 feet
seemed fifty miles away.
Down the craft sank, inch by inch, toward the sea. Suddenly
Lieutenant Riley shouted and pointed:
"Dougherty Island! Over there!"
A black speck rose out of the Pacific dead ahead.

The two men already had slipped into their emergency landing
harness to protect themselves from the deceleration that was bound
to come. They had swallowed pills to protect themselves from the
gravitational pressure and now they felt the drug taking hold of their
systems.
The ship seemed to be sailing parallel to the surface of the sea. The
tops of the waves reached up and touched the bottom of the craft,
and evaporated in a hiss of steam.
Gracefully, like a huge dirigible airship, the lifeboat dipped down. It
shuddered as the disturbed air roared like thunder around it. There
was a tremendous drag and a loud explosion as the ship touched the
water.
Both men pitched forward in their harness.
Captain Bonnet felt the world growing black around him. With
superhuman effort he shook off the threatened blackout and sent
the last drop of fuel into the lower jets to hold the ship one second
more above the waves.
There was a terrific jar. Tons and tons of pressure exerted itself
against the ship and on the men inside. But nothing cracked.
Outside the window, vision was obscured by clouds of swirling vapor.
The craft bounded forward in gigantic, hundred-mile leaps, like a
rock skipping across the surface of a huge pond.
Lieutenant Riley hung limply in his harness, a stream of blood
trickling from his nose. Slowly he opened his eyes.
"We're alive!" he gasped.
Then he fainted again.
The craft slowed down. A startled fishing craft off the Central
American coast almost capsized in the wash of the monster from the
skies.
Ahead of them land reared its head above the horizon. Captain
Bonnet wondered if the ship would stop in time, but he did not
realize how quickly the craft was coming to a standstill. He turned
the rudders and steered for shore. A cry came from Lieutenant Riley.
It was the Golden Gate.

A patrol boat met them in the harbor as the space ship, floating in
boiling water, came to a stop.
Captain Bonnet opened the locks and climbed out on the top of the
craft. He wore an asbestos space suit to protect himself from the
heat of the sides.
"Have you a wireless aboard?" he called to the patrol.
"Of course, captain!" came the reply from the patrol boat, as the
rescuers saw the insignia of rank on Bonnet's clothing.
"Send a message to the nearest interplanetary garrison that
reinforcements are needed at Outpost 53 on Venus. Lieutenant Riley
and myself just came from there—the situation is desperate...."
"You don't mean you came all the way from Venus in a lifeboat?"
"If you're going to waste time asking questions, let us come
aboard," Captain Bonnet said. "But get that message in the air at
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