Consider the following elliptic system: \begin{equation*} \left\{\aligned&-\ve^2\Delta u_1+\lambda_1u_1=\mu_1u_1^3+\alpha_1u_1^{p-1}+\beta u_2^2u_1\quad&\text{in }\Omega,\\ &-\ve^2\Delta u_2+\lambda_2u_2=\mu_2u_2^3+\alpha_2u_2^{p-1}+\beta u_1^2u_2\quad&\text{in }\Omega,\\ &u_1,u_2>0\quad\text{in }\Omega,\quad u_1=u_2=0\quad\text{on }\partial\Omega,\endaligned\right. \end{equation*} where $\Omega\subset\bbr^4$ is a bounded domain, $\lambda_i,\mu_i,\alpha_i>0$ $(i=1,2)$ and $\beta\not=0$ are constants, $\ve>0$ is a small parameter and $2<p<2^*=4$. By using variational methods, we study the existence of ground state solutions to this system for sufficiently small $\ve>0$. The concentration behaviors of least-energy solutions as $\ve\to0^+$ are also studied. Furthermore, by combining elliptic estimates and local energy estimates, we obtain the locations of these spikes as $\ve\to0^+$.

We prove a quantitative bi-Lipschitz non-embedding theorem for the Heisenberg group with its Carnot–Carathéodory metric and apply it to give a lower bound on the integrality gap of the Goemans–Linial semidefinite relaxation of the sparsest cut problem.

In this paper, we initiate the study of the instability of naked singularities without symmetries. In a series of papers, Christodoulou proved that naked singularities are not stable in the context of the spherically symmetric Einstein equations coupled with a massless scalar field. We study in this paper the next simplest case: a characteristic initial value problem of this coupled system with the initial data given on two intersecting null cones, the incoming one of which is assumed to be spherically symmetric and singular at its vertex, and the outgoing one of which has no symmetries. It is shown that, arbitrarily fixing the initial scalar field, the set of the initial conformal metrics on the outgoing null cone such that the maximal future development does not have any sequences of closed trapped surfaces approaching the singularity, is of first category in the whole space in which the shear tensors are continuous. Such a set can then be viewed as exceptional, although the exceptionality is weaker than the at least 1 co-dimensionality in spherical symmetry. Almost equivalently, it is also proved that, arbitrarily fixing an incoming null cone C––ε to the future of the initial incoming null cone, the set of the initial conformal metrics such that the maximal future development has at least one closed trapped surface before C––ε, contains an open and dense subset of the whole space. Since the initial scalar field can be chosen such that the singularity is naked if the initial shear is set to be zero, we may say that the spherical naked singularities of a self-gravitating scalar field are not stable under gravitational perturbations. This in particular gives new families of non-spherically symmetric gravitational perturbations different from the original spherically symmetric scalar perturbations given by Christodoulou.

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A review is presented of recent results on front propagation in reaction-diffusion-advection equations in homogeneous and heterogeneous media. Formal asymptotic expansions and heuristic ideas are used to motivate the results wherever possible. The fronts include constant-speed monotone traveling fronts in homogeneous media, periodically varying traveling fronts in periodic media, and fluctuating and fractal fronts in random media. These fronts arise in a wide range of applications such as chemical kinetics, combustion, biology, transport in porous media, and industrial deposition processes. Open problems are briefly discussed along the way.