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Miyuki Koiso 
2010-03-22 
14:00 - 15:00 
308 , Mathematics Research Center Building (ori. New Math. Bldg.)

We consider variational problems for surfaces with constraint. The most typical problem is the variational problem of area with volume constraint, and the equilibrium surfaces are surfaces with constant mean curvature. An equilibrium surface is said to be stable if the second variation of the energy functional is nonnegative for all admissible variations. We discuss stability and bifurcations of solutions. Especially, for each solution, we determine the structure of the set of all solutions near it. We will give general methods and their applications to some concrete examples which may be interesting from both mathematical and physical point of view.