The Weighted Inertia-Energy-Dissipation Principle

Abstract

The Weighted Inertia-Energy-Dissipation (WIDE) principle is a global variational approach to nonlinear evolution equations of parabolic and hyperbolic type. The minimization of the parameter-dependent WIDE functional on trajectories delivers an elliptic-in-time regularization. By taking the limit in the parameter, one recovers a solution to the given differential problem. This survey is intended to provide a comprehensive account of the available results on the WIDE variational approach. The basic concepts are illustrated in the simplest finite-dimensional case, and the existing literature, both theoretical and applied, is systematically reviewed.