Variational Methods for Evolution: Abstracts from the workshop held December 14–20, 2014

The workshop brought together researchers from geometry, nonlinear functional analysis, calculus of variations, partial differential equations, and stochastics around a common topic: systems whose evolution is driven by variational principles such as gradient or Hamiltonian systems. The talks covered a wide range of topics, including variational tools such as incremental minimization approximations, Gamma convergence, and optimal transport, reaction-diffusion systems, singular perturbation and homogenization, rate-independent models for visco-plasticity and fracture, Hamiltonian and hyperbolic systems, stochastic models and new gradient structures for Markov processes or variational large-deviation principles