The aim of the book is to give a unified approach to new developments in discrete potential theory and infinite network theory. The author confines himself to the finite energy case, but this does not result in loss of complexity. On the contrary, the functional analytic machinery may be used in analogy with potential theory on Riemann manifolds. The book is intended for researchers with interdisciplinary interests in one of the following fields: Markov chains, combinatorial graph theory, network theory, Dirichlet spaces, potential theory, abstract harmonic analysis, theory of boundaries.
The aim of the book is to give a unified approach to new developments in discrete potential theory and infinite network theory. The author confines himself to the finite energy case, but this does not result in loss of complexity. On the contrary, the functional analytic machinery may be used in analogy with potential theory on Riemann manifolds.The book is intended for researchers with interdisciplinary interests in one of the following fields: Markov chains, combinatorial graph theory, network theory, Dirichlet spaces, potential theory, abstract harmonic analysis, theory of boundaries.
Random walks, Markov chains and electrical networks serve as an introduction to the study of real-valued functions on finite or infinite graphs, with appropriate interpretations using probability theory and current-voltage laws. The relation between this type of function theory and the (Newton) potential theory on the Euclidean spaces is well-established. The latter theory has been variously generalized, one example being the axiomatic potential theory on locally compact spaces developed by Brelot, with later ramifications from Bauer, Constantinescu and Cornea. A network is a graph with edge-weights that need not be symmetric. This book presents an autonomous theory of harmonic functions and potentials defined on a finite or infinite network, on the lines of axiomatic potential theory. Random walks and electrical networks are important sources for the advancement of the theory.
This volume considers resistance networks: large graphs which are connected, undirected, and weighted. Such networks provide a discrete model for physical processes in inhomogeneous media, including heat flow through perforated or porous media. These graphs also arise in data science, e.g., considering geometrizations of datasets, statistical inference, or the propagation of memes through social networks. Indeed, network analysis plays a crucial role in many other areas of data science and engineering. In these models, the weights on the edges may be understood as conductances, or as a measure of similarity. Resistance networks also arise in probability, as they correspond to a broad class of Markov chains.The present volume takes the nonstandard approach of analyzing resistance networks from the point of view of Hilbert space theory, where the inner product is defined in terms of Dirichlet energy. The resulting viewpoint emphasizes orthogonality over convexity and provides new insights into the connections between harmonic functions, operators, and boundary theory. Novel applications to mathematical physics are given, especially in regard to the question of self-adjointness of unbounded operators.New topics are covered in a host of areas accessible to multiple audiences, at both beginning and more advanced levels. This is accomplished by directly linking diverse applied questions to such key areas of mathematics as functional analysis, operator theory, harmonic analysis, optimization, approximation theory, and probability theory.
This is the proceedings volume of an international conference entitled Complex Analysis and Potential Theory, which was held to honor the important contributions of two influential analysts, Kohur N. GowriSankaran and Paul M. Gauthier, in June 2011 at the Centre de Recherches Mathematiques (CRM) in Montreal. More than fifty mathematicians from fifteen countries participated in the conference. The twenty-four surveys and research articles contained in this book are based on the lectures given by some of the most established specialists in the fields. They reflect the wide breadth of research interests of the two honorees: from potential theory on trees to approximation on Riemann surfaces, from universality to inner and outer functions and the disc algebra, from branching processes to harmonic extension and capacities, from harmonic mappings and the Harnack principle to integration formulae in $\mathbb {C}^n$ and the Hartogs phenomenon, from fine harmonicity and plurisubharmonic functions to the binomial identity and the Riemann hypothesis, and more. This volume will be a valuable resource for specialists, young researchers, and graduate students from both fields, complex analysis and potential theory. It will foster further cooperation and the exchange of ideas and techniques to find new research perspectives.
The series is aimed specifically at publishing peer reviewed reviews and contributions presented at workshops and conferences. Each volume is associated with a particular conference, symposium or workshop. These events cover various topics within pure and applied mathematics and provide up-to-date coverage of new developments, methods and applications.
The late Professor Ming-Po Chen was instrumental in making the Third International Conference on Difference Equations a great success. Dedicated to his memory, these proceedings feature papers presented by many of the most prominent mathematicians in the field. It is a comprehensive collection of the latest developments in topics including stability theory, combinatorics, asymptotics, partial difference equations, as well as applications to biological, social, and natural sciences. This volume is an indispensable reference for academic and applied mathematicians, theoretical physicists, systems engineers, and computer and information scientists.
This self-contained book examines results on transfinite graphs and networks achieved through a continuing research effort during the past several years. These new results, covering the mathematical theory of electrical circuits, are different from those presented in two previously published books by the author, Transfiniteness for Graphs, Electrical Networks, and Random Walks and Pristine Transfinite Graphs and Permissive Electrical Networks. Two initial chapters present the preliminary theory summarizing all essential ideas needed for the book and will relieve the reader from any need to consult those prior books. Subsequent chapters are devoted entirely to novel results and cover: * Connectedness ideas---considerably more complicated for transfinite graphs as compared to those of finite or conventionally infinite graphs----and their relationship to hypergraphs * Distance ideas---which play an important role in the theory of finite graphs---and their extension to transfinite graphs with more complications, such as the replacement of natural-number distances by ordinal-number distances * Nontransitivity of path-based connectedness alleviated by replacing paths with walks, leading to a more powerful theory for transfinite graphs and networks Additional features include: * The use of nonstandard analysis in novel ways that leads to several entirely new results concerning hyperreal operating points for transfinite networks and hyperreal transients on transfinite transmission lines; this use of hyperreals encompasses for the first time transfinite networks and transmission lines containing inductances and capacitances, in addition to resistances * A useful appendix with concepts from nonstandard analysis used in the book * May serve as a reference text or as a graduate-level textbook in courses or seminars Graphs and Networks: Transfinite and Nonstandard will appeal to a diverse readership, including graduate students, electrical engineers, mathematicians, and physicists working on infinite electrical networks. Moreover, the growing and presently substantial number of mathematicians working in nonstandard analysis may well be attracted by the novel application of the analysis employed in the work.
