Calculus of Variations and Geometric Evolution Problems [electronic resource] : Lectures given at the 2nd Session of the Centro Internazionale Matematico Estivo (C.I.M.E.) held in Cetraro, Italy, June 15–22, 1996 / by Fabrice Bethuel, Gerhard Huisken, Stefan Müller, Klaus Steffen ; edited by Stefan Hildebrandt, Michael Struwe.

Variational methods for Ginzburg-Landau equations -- Geometric evolution equations for hypersurfaces -- Variational models for microstructure and phase transitions -- Parametric surfaces of prescribed mean curvature.

The international summer school on Calculus of Variations and Geometric Evolution Problems was held at Cetraro, Italy, 1996. The contributions to this volume reflect quite closely the lectures given at Cetraro which have provided an image of a fairly broad field in analysis where in recent years we have seen many important contributions. Among the topics treated in the courses were variational methods for Ginzburg-Landau equations, variational models for microstructure and phase transitions, a variational treatment of the Plateau problem for surfaces of prescribed mean curvature in Riemannian manifolds - both from the classical point of view and in the setting of geometric measure theory.