Variational Methods

In the framework of the 'Annee non lineaire' (the special nonlinear year) sponsored by the C.N.R.S. (the French National Center for Scien- tific Research), a meeting was held in Paris in June 1988. It took place in the Conference Hall of the Ministere de la Recherche and had as an organizing theme the topic of 'Variational Problems.' Nonlinear analysis has been one of the leading themes in mathemat- ical research for the past decade. The use of direct variational methods has been particularly successful in understanding problems arising from physics and geometry. The growth of nonlinear analysis is largely due to the wealth of ap- plications from various domains of sciences and industrial applica- tions. Most of the papers gathered in this volume have their origin in applications: from mechanics, the study of Hamiltonian systems, from physics, from the recent mathematical theory of liquid crystals, from geometry, relativity, etc. Clearly, no single volume could pretend to cover the whole scope of nonlinear variational problems. We have chosen to concentrate on three main aspects of these problems, organizing them roughly around the following topics: 1. Variational methods in partial differential equations in mathemat- ical physics 2. Variational problems in geometry 3. Hamiltonian systems and related topics.