‎‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ New Challenges in Calculus of Variations

14 Jul 2026, 13:30 → 17 Jul 2026, 13:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Dini (Palazzo del Castelletto)

Roberta Marziani (Università degli studi di Siena), Matteo Novaga (Università di Pisa), Giampiero Palatucci (Università di Parma)

This workshop brings together prominent researchers in the Calculus of Variations and related fields. Speaker’s presentations will cover topics ranging from geometric measure theory, mechanics of solids, discrete problems, geometric flows, etc. The aim of the workshop is to favor a friendly atmosphere in order to encourage interactions between speakers and participants.

LIST OF CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Giovanni Alberti (Università di Pisa)

Annika Bach (Eindhoven University of Technology)

Antonin Chambolle (Université Paris Dauphine-PSL)

Marco Cicalese (Technische Universität München)

Sergio Conti (Universität Bonn)

Vito Crismale (Sapienza Università di Roma)

Gianni Dal Maso (SISSA)

Lucia De Luca (CNR, Roma)

Antonio De Simone (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna)

Matteo Focardi (Università degli Studi di Firenze)

Gilles Francfort (Flatiron Institute New York)

Carlo Mantegazza (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)

Roberta Marziani (Università di Siena)

Annalisa Massaccesi (Università degli Studi di Padova)

Maria Giovanna Mora (Università di Pavia)

Mariapia Palombaro (Università degli Studi dell'Aquila)

Caterina Ida Zeppieri (Universität Münster)

 

The deadline for registration is the 07th of June 2026.

More information at the REGISTRATION PAGE.

The number of participants attending the Workshop is limited, therefore the registration will be confirmed after its expiration.

 

Funded by:

• Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Pisa, Dipartimento di Eccellenza 2023-2027

 

Tuesday 14 July

13:30 → 14:25 Registration

14:25 → 14:30 Welcome Address (Prof. Malchiodi)

14:30 → 15:20 TBA

Speaker: Sergio Conti

15:20 → 16:10 Topological and geometric defects in discrete systems: Fractional vortices and partial dislocations" (Part I)

Speaker: Marco Cicalese (TU Munich)

16:10 → 16:40 Coffee break

16:40 → 17:30 Topological and geometric defects in discrete systems: Fractional vortices and partial dislocations" (Part II)

Speaker: Annika Bach (Eindhoven University of Technology)

Wednesday 15 July

10:00 → 10:50 TBA

Speaker: Gianni Dal Maso (SISSA)

10:50 → 11:40 Wrinkling in the Lamé problem: a Γ-convergence approach

In this talk I will discuss the formation of wrinkling patterns in a thin elastic annulus subjected to radial stretching within the framework of the Föppl–von Kármán theory. In the limit of vanishing thickness, azimuthal compression develops in an inner region of the sheet, leading to highly oscillatory wrinkle patterns.

After subtracting the relaxed membrane energy and performing a suitable rescaling, we study the next-order variational problem governing the distribution of wrinkle frequencies. Using a Fourier decomposition and a measure-theoretic formulation, we prove a Γ-convergence result for the rescaled energies toward a convex functional defined on measures satisfying a marginal constraint. The limiting problem captures the effective mechanism selecting wrinkle patterns beyond scaling laws.

Speaker: Roberta Marziani (Università degli studi di Siena)

11:40 → 12:10 Coffee break

12:10 → 13:00 Phase-field approximation of sharp-interface energies accounting for lattice symmetry

The talk concerns a phase field approximation for sharp interface energies, defined on partitions, as appropriate for modeling grain boundaries in polycrystals. The label takes value in O(d)/G, where G is the point group of a lattice. The limiting surface energy behaves for small angles as s|log s|, according to the Read and Shockley law. These functionals can be used for image reconstruction of grain boundaries. Joint work with S. Conti (HCM Bonn), A. Garroni, A. Malusa (Sapienza).

Speaker: Vito Crismale (Sapienza Università di Roma)

13:00 → 14:30 Light Lunch

14:30 → 15:20 Quasiconvexity in the Riemannian setting

Speaker: Carlo Mantegazza (Università di Napoli Federico II)

Quasiconvexity in the Riemannian setting.pdf

15:20 → 16:10 Currents with coefficients in a group and branched transport problems

In this seminar I will review the theory of flat G-chains, as they were introduced by H. W. Fleming in 1966, and currents with coefficients in groups with the aim of showing some recent applications to variants of the branched optimal transport. One development of the theory concerns its application to the Steiner tree problem and other minimal network problems which are related with a Eulerian formulation of the branched optimal transport. Starting from a 2016 paper by A. Marchese and myself, I will show how these problems and their variants are equivalent to a mass-minimization problem in the framework of currents with coefficients in a (suitably chosen) normed group. The variants I'm referring to include the multicommodity flow, the mailing problem and new models for robust and resilient traffic plans, as shown in a recent paper in collaboration with L. De Masi and A. Marchese.

Speaker: Annalisa Massaccesi (Università degli studi di Padova)

16:10 → 16:40 Coffee break

16:40 → 17:30 On the Minimisation of Nonlocal Interaction Energies

Nonlocal interaction energies play a central role in describing the collective behaviour of large particle systems in a wide range of applications. In this lecture we will focus on interactions that are short-range repulsive and long-range attractive. We will review the key results on the existence and uniqueness of minimisers, and present their explicit characterisation in the classical case of isotropic kernels with Riesz-type repulsion and quadratic attraction. We will then show how a complete characterisation can be given for a broad class of anisotropic variants of the repulsive kernel. If time permits, we will conclude with a discussion of open problems and future directions. This talk is based on joint work with several collaborators: R. Frank, J. Mateu, L. Rondi, L. Scardia, E.G. Tolotti, and J. Verdera.

Speaker: Maria Giovanna Mora (Università di Pavia)

Thursday 16 July

10:00 → 10:50 Is brittle fracture broken?

After nearly thirty years, the ``variational approach to fracture" is very much alive both in the mechanics and mathematical communities. Yet a host of issues are emerging that obfuscate the elegance of the original theory.

I will review a few of those, show the shortcomings of the existing sharp theories and the additional hurdles introduced by the phase field approximations. I will comment on what I now view as unwarranted departures, even if mathematically sound, like cohesive fracture or the various kinds of models that introduce viscosity as a dissipation mechanism during jumps.

I will hopefully propose a nascent brittle theory which unfortunately would require a complete revisiting of the existing body of mathematical results.

Speaker: Gilles Francfort (Flatiron Institue)

10:50 → 11:40 Stochastic homogenization of fractional obstacle problems

Speaker: Matteo Focardi (Università degli studi di Firenze)

Abstract.pdf

11:40 → 12:10 Coffee break

12:10 → 13:00 Homogenisation of droplets in liquid-liquid phase-transitions

We rigorously derive a sharp-interface model for the coexistence of multiple liquid phases in a domain containing a random distribution of small droplets, within which a prescribed phase is enforced. Starting from a diffuse-interface model of Modica–Mortola type, we prove that, under very general assumptions on the droplet distribution (modelled probabilistically by a stationary marked point process) and at a critical scaling for the droplet radii, an additional stochastic bulk term of capacitary type emerges in the limit functional.

Speaker: Caterina Ida Zeppieri (Universität Münster)

14:30 → 15:20 Asymptotic expansion of the relative s-fractional perimeter as s->0.

We prove a first-order Gamma-convergence result for the relative s-fractional perimeter, as s->0, with respect to a given bounded set and prescribed exterior data. We investigate the robustness of our approach under perturbations of the exterior data and in the presence of volume constraints. We then use the Gamma-convergence expansion to study the asymptotic behavior of s-minimal sets as s->0.
Joint work with G. Palatucci, M. Piccinini, and M. Ponsiglione.

Speaker: Lucia De Luca (CNR, Roma)

15:20 → 15:50 Coffee break

15:50 → 16:40 Beating filaments: from eukaryotic cilia to photo-responsive rods

Spontaneous oscillations are observed across many natural and artificial systems. We present a comparative analysis of the chemo-mechanical mechanisms that drive spontaneous oscillations in two distinct active filamentous structures: photo-chemically deformable liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) rods and ATP-powered eukaryotic cilia.
Using the unifying framework of active planar rods, we develop simplified mathematical models for both systems. We reduce the governing partial differential equations to one-degree-of-freedom (1-DOF) nonlinear oscillators, each undergoing a supercritical Hopf bifurcation. For these reduced models, we obtain explicit analytical expressions for the onset and characteristics of self-sustained oscillations.
Despite the common mathematical structure, the underlying physical mechanisms are fundamentally different. For LCEs, self-oscillation is an inertial phenomenon driven by an elastic-inertial feedback over the timescale of the photochemical reaction. In contrast, eukaryotic cilia live in the inertia-less (low Reynolds number) regime, and the instability is driven by a negative effective damping - a motive force that arises from the mechano-chemistry of molecular motors. The analytical predictions for critical activation thresholds, frequencies, and amplitudes agree with full nonlinear simulations, providing quantitative insight into the dynamics of these complex self-oscillating systems.

Speaker: Antonio De Simone (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna)

20:00 → 22:00 Social dinner

Friday 17 July

09:30 → 10:20 Convergence of entropic transport energies

Speaker: Antonin Chambolle (Université Paris Dauphine-PSL)

Abstract.pdf

10:20 → 11:10 TBA

Speaker: Maria Pia Palombaro (Università degli Studi dell'Aquila)

11:10 → 11:40 Coffee break

11:40 → 12:30 TBA

Speaker: Giovanni Alberti (Università di Pisa)