arXiv subjects

Filip Rindler

Publications and source records attributed to Filip Rindler.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Shape optimization of light structures with general Hooke's laws

For the minimum-compliance shape optimization problem it was established recently [\textit{Duke Math.\ J.} 172 (2023), 43--103] that a sequence of approximately optimal shapes of exact volume $\e$ converges to a limiting generalized shape, which is represented by a possibly diffuse probability measure, as $\e \todown 0$. This generalized shape minimizes the so-called light-structures compliance functional, which --- as conjectured by Bouchitt\'e --- is expressed in terms of a relaxed integrand, reflecting that optimal shapes must only involve ``lower-dimensional'' structures, like the Michell-type trusses that are well known in the engineering domain. However, the aforementioned result only applies for the simplest isotropic quadratic energy density, that is, the squared Frobenius norm, in dimensions two and three. The present work extends the relaxation result to the entire class of (isotropic or anisotropic) elasticity tensors and to any dimension, thus solving Bouchitt\'e's conjecture in full generality. Since the previous work relied on explicit formulas for the relaxed integrands (due to Allaire, Kohn, and Strang), which are not available in the general case, several new arguments and substantial modifications of the original approach are required. We also significantly simplify and streamline other parts of the original argument, in addition to clarifying some related statements in the literature.

math.AP↗

arXiv2026

Concentration phenomena and the Vanishing Mass Conjecture

Concentrating (that is, non-equi-integrable) sequences of functions satisfying linear PDE constraints arise in a wide variety of problems in PDE, the calculus of variations, and geometric measure theory. In 2003, Bouchitt\'{e} conjectured that such concentrations can always be represented as superpositions of ``simple'' concentrations, a claim he termed the Vanishing Mass Conjecture. We fully resolve this conjecture for all first-order constant-coefficient linear differential operators, proving that the value-distribution (Young) measure of any such sequence admits a Choquet-type decomposition into probability measures whose barycenters lie in the associated Tartar wave cone. In fact, we prove a significantly stronger statement than originally conjectured, namely that the constituent measures are themselves generated by concentrating sequences satisfying the same PDE constraint. This provides a complete structural description of concentrating sequences and yields several applications, including a new proof of a theorem of De Philippis and the second author on the singular polar of PDE-constrained measures, two types of compensated compactness results, a general lower bound related to the Optimal Light Structures Conjecture in shape optimization, and a surprising result on the support cardinality of extremal concentration Young measures. We also place our results in the context of Morrey's Conjecture, showing that its analogue for pure concentrations is false. Our proofs introduce several new techniques, most notably convexity arguments involving ``barrier functions'' and a careful smoothing procedure via the heat flow that replaces classical Fourier methods.

math.AP↗

arXiv2025

The Space-Time Connectivity Theorem for Normal Currents

This work establishes a Space-Time Connectivity Theorem for normal currents. In analogy with classical results of Federer and Fleming, this result allows one to witness the weak* convergence of a uniformly bounded sequence of boundaryless normal currents with a space-time normal current that connects the elements of the sequence to their limit. The space-time setting is distinguished from the classical case in that this connecting current has a time coordinate and thus constitutes a progressive-in-time way to deform an element of the sequence to the limit.

math.AP↗

arXiv2024

Homogenization of elasto-plastic evolutions driven by the flow of dislocations

Starting from a prototypical model of elasto-plasticity in the small-strain and quasi-static setting, where the evolution of the plastic distortion is driven exclusively by the motion of discrete dislocations, this work performs a rigorous homogenization procedure to a model involving continuously-distributed dislocation fields. Our main result shows the existence of rate-independent evolutions driven by the motion of dislocation fields, obtained as limits of discrete dislocation evolutions. For all notions of solutions we employ the recent concepts of space-time integral and normal currents, which is richer than the classical approach using the Kr\"oner dislocation density tensor. The key technical challenge is to find discrete dislocation evolutions approximating a given dislocation field evolution, which requires a careful recovery construction of space-time slip trajectories and associated displacements. These methods enable one to transfer the properties, most importantly the quasi-static stability, from the discrete to the field regime.

math.AP↗

arXiv2024

A quantitative model for the Frank-Read dislocation source based on pinned mean curvature flow

This work introduces a simple quantitative model for the Frank--Read source, considered to be one of the most important micro-mechanical mechanisms of dislocation creation in crystalline materials. It has long been known that these sources create dislocations in a repetitive, oscillatory process, which is driven by an external shear force. Unlike the existing explanations in the literature, the model introduced in the present article is based on just a few simple physical principles, namely line tension and dislocation motion due to a single slip plane flow rule, together with a pinning constraint on the ends of the central dislocation line. A complete discretisation, including suitable re-meshing and ``topological cutting'' algorithms, is described and simulation results are discussed. Despite its conceptual simplicity, the model and discretisation described in the present work yield remarkably accurate predictions about the shape and properties of the Frank--Read source. In particular, it is shown that only one dimensionless parameter controls the dynamics of the Frank--Read source if one neglects crystal anisotropy. This allows to derive an emergent law about the length of dislocation line generated per shear energy.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Existence and uniqueness for the transport of currents by Lipschitz vector fields

This work establishes the existence and uniqueness of solutions to the initial-value problem for the geometric transport equation $$ \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d} t}T_t+\mathcal{L}_b T_t=0 $$ in the class of $k$-dimensional integral or normal currents $T_t$ ($t$ being the time variable) under the natural assumption of Lipschitz regularity of the driving vector field $b$. Our argument relies crucially on the notion of decomposability bundle introduced recently by Alberti and Marchese. In the particular case of $0$-currents, this also yields a new proof of the uniqueness for the continuity equation in the class of signed measures.

math.AP↗

arXiv2022

On the converse of Pansu's Theorem

We provide a suitable generalisation of Pansu's differentiability theorem to general Radon measures on Carnot groups and we show that if Lipschitz maps between Carnot groups are Pansu-differentiable almost everywhere for some Radon measures $\mu$, then $\mu$ must be absolutely continuous with respect to the Haar measure of the group.

math.MG↗

arXiv2022

Transport of currents and geometric Rademacher-type theorems

The transport of many kinds of singular structures in a medium, such as vortex points/lines/sheets in fluids, dislocation loops in crystalline plastic solids, or topological singularities in magnetism, can be expressed in terms of the geometric (Lie) transport equation \[ \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d} t} T_t + \mathcal{L}_{b_t} T_t = 0 \] for a time-indexed family of integral or normal $k$-currents $t \mapsto T_t$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Here, $b_t$ is the driving vector field and $\mathcal{L}_{b_t} T_t$ is the Lie derivative of $T_t$ with respect to $b_t$. Written in coordinates for different values of $k$, this PDE encompasses the classical transport equation ($k = d$), the continuity equation ($k = 0$), as well as the equations for the transport of dislocation lines in crystals ($k = 1$) and membranes in liquids ($k =d-1$). The top-dimensional and bottom-dimensional cases have received a great deal of attention in connection with the DiPerna--Lions and Ambrosio theories of Regular Lagrangian Flows. On the other hand, very little is rigorously known at present in the intermediate-dimensional cases. This work develops the theory of the geometric transport equation for arbitrary $k$ and in the case of boundaryless currents $T_t$, covering in particular existence and uniqueness of solutions, structure theorems, rectifiability, and a number of Rademacher-type differentiability results. The latter yield, given an absolutely continuous (in time) path $t \mapsto T_t$, the existence almost everywhere of a ''geometric derivative'', namely a driving vector field $b_t$. This subtle question turns out to be intimately related to the critical set of the evolution, a new notion introduced in this work, which is closely related to Sard's theorem and concerns singularities that are ''smeared out in time''. Our differentiability results are sharp, which we demonstrate through an explicit example.

math.AP↗

arXiv2021

Energetic solutions to rate-independent large-strain elasto-plastic evolutions driven by discrete dislocation flow

This work rigorously implements a recent model of large-strain elasto-plastic evolution in single crystals where the plastic flow is driven by the movement of discrete dislocation lines. The model is geometrically and elastically nonlinear, that is, the total deformation gradient splits multiplicatively into elastic and plastic parts, and the elastic energy density is polyconvex. There are two internal variables: The system of all dislocations is modeled via $1$-dimensional boundaryless integral currents, whereas the history of plastic flow is encoded in a plastic distortion matrix-field. As our main result we construct an energetic solution in the case of a rate-independent flow rule. Besides the classical stability and energy balance conditions, our notion of solution also accounts for the movement of dislocations and the resulting plastic flow. Because of the path-dependence of plastic flow, a central role is played by so-called ``slip trajectories'', that is, the surfaces traced out by moving dislocations, which we represent as integral $2$-currents in space-time. The proof of our main existence result further crucially rests on careful a-priori estimates via a nonlinear Gronwall-type lemma and a rescaling of time. In particular, we have to account for the fact that the plastic flow may cause the coercivity of the elastic energy functional to decay along the evolution, and hence the solution may blow up in finite time.

math.AP↗

arXiv2021

Space-time integral currents of bounded variation

Motivated by a recent model for elasto-plastic evolutions that are driven by the flow of dislocations, this work develops a theory of space-time integral currents with bounded variation in time, which enables a natural variational approach to the analysis of rate-independent geometric evolutions. Based on this, we further introduce the notion of Lipschitz deformation distance between integral currents, which arises physically as a (simplified) dissipation distance. Several results are obtained: A Helly-type compactness theorem, a deformation theorem, an isoperimetric inequality, and the equivalence of the convergence in deformation distance with the classical notion of weak* (or flat) convergence. Finally, we prove that the Lipschitz deformation distance agrees with the (integral) homogeneous Whitney flat metric for boundaryless currents. Physically, this means that two seemingly different ways to measure the dissipation actually coincide.

math.AP↗

arXiv2021

Elasto-plastic evolution of single crystals driven by dislocation flow

This work introduces a model for large-strain, geometrically nonlinear elasto-plastic dynamics in single crystals. The key feature of our model is that the plastic dynamics are entirely driven by the movement of dislocations, that is, $1$-dimensional topological defects in the crystal lattice. It is well known that glide motion of dislocations is the dominant microscopic mechanism for plastic deformation in many crystalline materials, most notably in metals. We propose a novel geometric language, built on the concepts of space-time "slip trajectories" and the "crystal scaffold" to describe the movement of (discrete) dislocations and to couple this movement to plastic flow. The energetics and dissipation relationships in our model are derived from first principles drawing on the theories of crystal modeling, elasticity, and thermodynamics. The resulting force balances involve a new configurational stress tensor describing the forces acting against slip. In order to place our model into context, we further show that it recovers several laws that were known in special cases before, most notably the equation for the Peach-Koehler force (linearized configurational force) and the fact that the combination of all dislocations yields the curl of the plastic distortion field. Finally, we also include a brief discussion on how a number of other effects, such as hardening, softening, dislocation climb, and coarse-graining, could be incorporated into our model.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Higher integrability for measures satisfying a PDE constraint

We establish higher integrability estimates for constant-coefficient systems of linear PDEs \[ \mathcal{A} \mu = \sigma, \] where $\mu \in \mathcal{M}(\Omega;V)$ and $\sigma\in \mathcal{M}(\Omega;W)$ are vector measures and the polar $\frac{\mathrm{d} \mu}{\mathrm{d} |\mu|}$ is uniformly close to a convex cone of $V$ intersecting the wave cone of $\mathcal{A}$ only at the origin. More precisely, we prove local compensated compactness estimates of the form \[ \|\mu\|_{\mathrm{L}^p(\Omega')} \lesssim |\mu|(\Omega) + |\sigma|(\Omega), \qquad \Omega' \Subset \Omega. \] Here, the exponent $p$ belongs to the (optimal) range $1 \leq p < d/(d-k)$, $d$ is the dimension of $\Omega$, and $k$ is the order of $\mathcal{A}$. We also obtain the limiting case $p = d/(d-k)$ for canceling constant-rank operators. We consider applications to compensated compactness and {applications to the theory of} functions of bounded variation and bounded deformation.

math.AP↗

arXiv2021

Shape optimization of light structures and the vanishing mass conjecture

This work proves rigorous results about the vanishing-mass limit of the classical problem to find a shape with minimal elastic compliance. Contrary to all previous results in the mathematical literature, which utilize a soft mass constraint by introducing a Lagrange multiplier, we here consider the hard mass constraint. Our results are the first to establish the convergence of approximately optimal shapes of (exact) size $\varepsilon \downarrow 0$ to a limit generalized shape represented by a (possibly diffuse) probability measure. This limit generalized shape is a minimizer of the limit compliance, which involves a new integrand, namely the one conjectured by Bouchitt\'e in 2001 and predicted heuristically before in works of Allaire & Kohn and Kohn & Strang from the 1980s and 1990s. This integrand gives the energy of the limit generalized shape understood as a fine oscillation of (optimal) lower-dimensional structures. Its appearance is surprising since the integrand in the original compliance is just a quadratic form and the non-convexity of the problem is not immediately obvious. In fact, it is the interaction of the mass constraint with the requirement of attaining the loading (in the form of a divergence-constraint) that gives rise to this new integrand. We also present connections to the theory of Michell trusses, first formulated in 1904, and show how our results can be interpreted as a rigorous justification of that theory on the level of functionals in both two and three dimensions, settling this open problem. Our proofs rest on compensated compactness arguments applied to an explicit family of (symmetric) $\mathrm{div}$-quasiconvex quadratic forms, computations involving the Hashin-Shtrikman bounds for the Kohn-Strang integrand, and the characterization of limit minimizers due to Bouchitt\'e & Buttazzo.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

Probabilistic solution of chaotic dynamical system inverse problems using Bayesian Artificial Neural Networks

This paper demonstrates the application of Bayesian Artificial Neural Networks to Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) inverse problems. We consider the case of estimating an unknown chaotic dynamical system transition model from state observation data. Inverse problems for chaotic systems are numerically challenging as small perturbations in model parameters can cause very large changes in estimated forward trajectories. Bayesian Artificial Neural Networks can be used to simultaneously fit a model and estimate model parameter uncertainty. Knowledge of model parameter uncertainty can then be incorporated into the probabilistic estimates of the inferred system's forward time evolution. The method is demonstrated numerically by analysing the chaotic Sprott B system. Observations of the system are used to estimate a posterior predictive distribution over the weights of a parametric polynomial kernel Artificial Neural Network. It is shown that the proposed method is able to perform accurate time predictions. Further, the proposed method is able to correctly account for model uncertainties and provide useful prediction uncertainty bounds.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2019

Fine properties of functions of bounded deformation -- an approach via linear PDEs

In this survey we collect some recent results obtained by the authors and collaborators concerning the fine structure of functions of bounded deformation (BD). These maps are $\mathrm{L}^1$-functions with the property that the symmetric part of their distributional derivative is representable as a bounded (matrix-valued) Radon measure. It has been known for a long time that for a (matrix-valued) Radon measure the property of being a symmetrized gradient can be characterized by an under-determined second-order PDE system, the Saint-Venant compatibility conditions. This observation gives rise to a new approach to the fine properties of BD-maps via the theory of PDEs for measures, which complements and partially replaces classical arguments. Starting from elementary observations, here we elucidate the ellipticity arguments underlying this recent progress and give an overview of the state of the art. We also present some open problems.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

Model inference for Ordinary Differential Equations by parametric polynomial kernel regression

Model inference for dynamical systems aims to estimate the future behaviour of a system from observations. Purely model-free statistical methods, such as Artificial Neural Networks, tend to perform poorly for such tasks. They are therefore not well suited to many questions from applications, for example in Bayesian filtering and reliability estimation. This work introduces a parametric polynomial kernel method that can be used for inferring the future behaviour of Ordinary Differential Equation models, including chaotic dynamical systems, from observations. Using numerical integration techniques, parametric representations of Ordinary Differential Equations can be learnt using Backpropagation and Stochastic Gradient Descent. The polynomial technique presented here is based on a nonparametric method, kernel ridge regression. However, the time complexity of nonparametric kernel ridge regression scales cubically with the number of training data points. Our parametric polynomial method avoids this manifestation of the curse of dimensionality, which becomes particularly relevant when working with large time series data sets. Two numerical demonstrations are presented. First, a simple regression test case is used to illustrate the method and to compare the performance with standard Artificial Neural Network techniques. Second, a more substantial test case is the inference of a chaotic spatio-temporal dynamical system, the Lorenz--Emanuel system, from observations. Our method was able to successfully track the future behaviour of the system over time periods much larger than the training data sampling rate. Finally, some limitations of the method are presented, as well as proposed directions for future work to mitigate these limitations.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2019

Two-speed solutions to non-convex rate-independent systems

We consider evolutionary PDE inclusions of the form \[ -\lambda \dot{u}_\lambda + \Delta u - \mathrm{D} W_0(u) + f \ni \partial \mathcal{R}_1(\dot{u}) \qquad\text{in $(0,T) \times \Omega$,} \] where $\mathcal{R}_1$ is a positively $1$-homogeneous rate-independent dissipation potential and $W_0$ is a (generally) non-convex energy density. This work constructs solutions to the above system in the slow-loading limit $\lambda \downarrow 0$. Our solutions have more regularity both in space and time than those that have been obtained with other approaches. On the "slow" time scale we see strong solutions to a purely rate-independent evolution. Over the jumps, we obtain a detailed description of the behavior of the solution and we resolve the jump transients at a "fast" time scale, where the original rate-dependent evolution is still visible. Crucially, every jump transient splits into a (possibly countable) number of rate-dependent evolutions, for which the energy dissipation can be explicitly computed. This in particular yields a global energy equality for the whole evolution process. It also turns out that there is a canonical slow time scale that avoids intermediate-scale effects, where movement occurs in a mixed rate-dependent / rate-independent way. In this way, we obtain precise information on the impact of the approximation on the constructed solution. Our results are illustrated by examples, which elucidate the effects that can occur.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

Concentration versus oscillation effects in brittle damage

This work is concerned with an asymptotic analysis, in the sense of $\Gamma$-convergence, of a sequence of variational models of brittle damage in the context of linearized elasticity. The study is performed as the damaged zone concentrates into a set of zero volume and, at the same time and to the same order $\varepsilon$, the stiffness of the damaged material becomes small. Three main features make the analysis highly nontrivial: at $\varepsilon$ fixed, minimizing sequences of each brittle damage model oscillate and develop microstructures; as $\varepsilon\to 0$, concentration and saturation of damage are favoured; and the competition of these phenomena translates into a degeneration of the growth of the elastic energy, which passes from being quadratic (at $\varepsilon$ fixed) to being of linear-growth type (in the limit). Consequently, homogenization effects interact with singularity formation in a nontrivial way, which requires new methods of analysis. In particular, the interaction of homogenization with singularity formation in the framework of linearized elasticity appears to not have been considered in the literature so far. We explicitly identify the $\Gamma$-limit in two and three dimensions for isotropic Hooke tensors. The expression of the limit effective energy turns out to be of Hencky plasticity type. We further consider the regime where the divergence remains square-integrable in the limit, which leads to a Tresca-type model.

math.AP↗