This dissertation is organized into four chapters: an introduction followed by three chapters, each based on one of three separate papers. In Chapter 2 we consider gradient descent equations for energy functionals of the type [mathematical equation] where A is a second-order uniformly elliptic operator with smooth coefficients. We consider the gradient descent equation for S, where the gradient is an element of the Sobolev space H[superscipt beta], [beta is an element of](0, 1), with a metric that depends on A and a positive number [gamma] > sup |V₂₂|. The main result of Chapter 2 is a weak comparison principle for such a gradient flow. We extend our methods to the case where A is a fractional power of an elliptic operator, and we provide an application to the Aubry-Mather theory for partial differential equations and pseudo-differential equations by finding plane-like minimizers of the energy functional. In Chapter 3 we investigate the differentiability of the minimal average energy associated to the functionals [mathematical equation] using numerical and perturbation methods. We use the Sobolev gradient descent method as a numerical tool to compute solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations with some periodicity conditions; this is the cell problem in homogenization. We use these solutions to determine the minimal average energy as a function of the slope. We also obtain a representation of the solutions to the Euler-Lagrange equations as a Lindstedt series in the perturbation parameter [epsilon], and use this to confirm our numerical results. Additionally, we prove convergence of the Lindstedt series. In Chapter 4 we present a method for determining the stability of a class of stochastically forced ordinary differential equations, where the forcing term can be obtained by passing white noise through a filter of arbitrarily high degree. We use the Fokker-Planck equation to write a partial differential equation for the second moments, which we turn into an eigenvalue problem for a second-order differential operator. We develop ladder operators to determine analytic expressions for the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of this differential operator, and thus determine the stability. / text

[pt] Seja (Es)t o espaço de germes na origem de funções suaves entre os espaços euclidianos de dimensões e t. Nesta dissertação, apresentamos a parte da Teoria de Mather que descreve hipóteses suficientes para k-determinação em (Es)t sob duas ações diferentes, induzindo as chamadas R- e K-equivalências. Um germe é k-determinado se é equivalente a qualquer perturbação que deixa invariante seu k-jato, os termos de ordem até k de sua expansão de Taylor na origem. A R-equivalência consiste em compor germes com germes de difeomorfismos µa direita. A K- equivalência é mais difícil de descrever. / [en] Let (Es)t be the space of smooth map-germs at the origin between Euclidian spaces of dimensions s and t. In this dissertation, we present a section of Mather theory describing su±cient conditions for k- determinacy of this map-germs under two different actions, inducing the so called R- e K- equivalences. A map-germ is k-determined if it is equivalent to any perturbation that leaves invariant its k-jet, i.e., the terms up to order k of its Taylor expansion at the origin. The R-equivalence consists of compositions with germs of diffeomorphisms to the right. The K- equivalence is harder to describe.