For this edition, a number of typographical errors and minor slip-ups have been corrected. In addition, following the persistent encouragement of Olga Oleinik, I have added a new chapter, Chapter 25, which I titled "Recent Results." This chapter is divided into four sections, and in these I have discussed what I consider to be some of the important developments which have come about since the writing of the first edition. Section I deals with reaction-diffusion equations, and in it are described both the work of C. Jones, on the stability of the travelling wave for the Fitz-Hugh-Nagumo equations, and symmetry-breaking bifurcations. Section II deals with some recent results in shock-wave theory. The main topics considered are L. Tartar's notion of compensated compactness, together with its application to pairs of conservation laws, and T.-P. Liu's work on the stability of viscous profiles for shock waves. In the next section, Conley's connection index and connection matrix are described; these general notions are useful in con structing travelling waves for systems of nonlinear equations. The final sec tion, Section IV, is devoted to the very recent results of C. Jones and R. Gardner, whereby they construct a general theory enabling them to locate the point spectrum of a wide class of linear operators which arise in stability problems for travelling waves. Their theory is general enough to be applica ble to many interesting reaction-diffusion systems.

Klappentext

The purpose of this book is to make easily available the basics of the theory of hyperbolic conservation laws and the theory of systems of reaction-diffusion equations, including the generalized Morse theory as developed by Charles Conley. It presents the modern ideas in these fields in a way that is accessible to a wider audience than just mathematicians.The book is divided into four main parts: linear theory, reaction-diffusion equations, shock-wave theory, and the Conley index. For the second edition numerous typographical errors and other mistakes have been corrected and a new chapter on recent results has been added. The new chapter contains discussions of the stability of traveling waves, symmetry-breaking bifurcations, compensated compactness, viscous profiles for shock waves, and general notions for construction traveling-wave solutions for systems of nonlinear equations.

Zusammenfassung
these general notions are useful in con structing travelling waves for systems of nonlinear equations. Gardner, whereby they construct a general theory enabling them to locate the point spectrum of a wide class of linear operators which arise in stability problems for travelling waves.

Inhalt
1 Ill-Posed Problems.- 2 Characteristics and Initial-Value Problems.- 3 The One-Dimensional Wave Equation.- 4 Uniqueness and Energy Integrals.- 5 Holmgren's Uniqueness Theorem.- 6 An Initial-Value Problem for a Hyperbolic Equation.- 7 Distribution Theory.- 8 Second-Order Linear Elliptic Equations.- 9 Second-Order Linear Parabolic Equations.- 10 Comparison Theorems and Monotonicity Methods.- 11 Linearization.- 12 Topological Methods.- 13 Bifurcation Theory.- 14 Systems of Reaction-Diffusion Equations.- 15 Discontinuous Solutions of Conservation Laws.- 16 The Single Conservation Law.- 17 The Riemann Problem for Systems of Conservation Laws.- 18 Applications to Gas Dynamics.- 19 The Glimm Difference Scheme.- 20 Riemann Invariants, Entropy, and Uniqueness.- 21 Quasi-Linear Parabolic Systems.- 22 The Conley Index.- 23 Index Pairs and the Continuation Theorem.- 24 Travelling Waves.- 25 Recent Results.- Author Index.