A class of bounded pseudo-differential operators

Zeta Functions and the Cosmos—A Basic Brief Review

This is a very basic and pedagogical review of the concepts of zeta function and of the associated zeta regularization method, starting from the notions of harmonic series and of divergent sums in general. By way of very simple examples, it is shown how these powerful methods are used for the regularization of physical quantities, such as quantum vacuum fluctuations in various contexts. In special, in Casimir effect setups, with a note on the dynamical Casimir effect, and mainly concerning its application in quantum theories in curved spaces, subsequently used in gravity theories and cosmology. The second part of this work starts with an essential introduction to large scale cosmology, in search of the observational foundations of the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) model, and the cosmological constant issue, with the very hard problems associated with it. In short, a concise summary of all these interrelated subjects and applications, involving zeta functions and the cosmos, and an updated list of the pioneering and more influential works (according to Google Scholar citation counts) published on all these matters to date, are provided.

Dynamo theory, vorticity generation, and exponential stretching

A discussion is given of the analogy between the dynamo equation for the generation of a magnetic field by the motion of an electrically conducting fluid and the equation for the evolution of vorticity of a viscous fluid. In both cases exponential stretching is an important feature of the underlying instability problem. For the "fast" dynamo problem, the existence of exponential stretching (i.e., the positivity of the Lyapunov exponent) somewhere in the flow is a necessary condition when the flow is smooth. An example is presented of a flow with exponential stretching (an Anosov flow) that supports fast dynamo action. A parallel treatment is described for the linearized Navier-Stokes equations for the motion of a viscous fluid. In this problem the analogous necessary condition for "fast vorticity generation" is the existence of some instability in the corresponding Euler (i.e., inviscid) equation. Dynamo theory methods give a second related result, namely a universal geometric estimate from below on the growth rate of a small perturbation in an inviscid fluid. This bound gives an effective sufficient condition for local instability for Eulers equations. In particular, it is proved that a steady flow with a hyperbolic stagnation point is unstable. The growth rate of an infinitesimal perturbation in a metric with derivatives depends on this metric. This dependence is completely described.

Classes of spatially inhomogeneous pseudodifferential operators

One can obtain sharp information on a pseudodifferential operator p(x,D) by embedding the symbol p in a symbolic calculus specially designed to reflect the behavior of p. We sketch the development of symbolic calculi arising in this connection, and use our results to give simple proofs of the sharp Gårding inequality and of sufficiency of Nirenberg-Traves' condition (P) for local solvability of equations of principal type.