Computer-Assisted Proofs and Other Methods for Problems Regarding Nonlinear Differential Equations

Sammanfattning: This PhD thesis treats some problems concerning nonlinear differential equations.In the first two papers computer-assisted proofs are used. The differential equations there are rewritten as fixed point problems, and the existence of solutions are proved. The problem in the first paper is one-dimensional; with one boundary condition given by an integral. The problem in the second paper is three-dimensional, and Dirichlet boundary conditions are used. Both problems have their origins in fluid dynamics.Paper III describes an inverse problem for the heat equation. Given the solution, a solution dependent diffusion coefficient is estimated by intervals at a finite set of points. The method includes the construction of set-valued level curves and two-dimensional splines.In paper IV we prove that there exists a unique, globally attracting fixed point for a differential equation system. The differential equation system arises as the number of peers in a peer-to-peer network, which is described by a suitably scaled Markov chain, goes to infinity. In the proof linearization and Dulac's criterion are used.