The work in this thesis is focussed on obtaining fast, e cient solutions to the Schroedinger-Poisson model of electron states in microelectronic devices. The self-consistent solution of the coupled system of Schroedinger-Poisson equations poses many challenges. In particular, the three-dimensional solution is computationally intensive resulting in long simulation time, prohibitive memory requirements and considerable computer resources such as parallel processing and multi-core machines. Consequently, an approximate analytical solution for the coupled system of Schroedinger-Poisson equations is investigated. Details of the analytical techniques for the approximate solution are developed and the original approach is outlined. By introducing the hyperbolic secant and tangent functions with complex arguments, the coupled system of equations is transformed into one for which an approximate solution is much simpler to obtain. The method solves Schroedinger's equation rst by approximating the electrostatic potential in Poisson's equation and subsequently uses this solution to solve Poisson's equation. The complete iterative solution for the coupled system is obtained through implementation into Matlab. The semi-analytical method is robust and is applicable to one, two and three dimensional device architectures. It has been validated against alternative methods and experimental results reported in the literature and it shows improved simulation times for the class of coupled partial di erential equations and devices for which it was developed.

In this thesis, we review the stability problem for traveling waves and discuss the Evans function, an emerging tool in the stability analysis of traveling waves. We describe some recent developments in the numerical computation of the Evans function and discuss STABLAB, an interactive MATLAB based tool box that we developed. In addition, we verify the Evans function for shock layers in Burgers equation and the p-system with and without capillarity, as well as pulses in the generalized Kortweg-de Vries (gKdV) equation. We conduct a new study of parallel shock layers in isentropic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) obtaining results consistent with stability.

Using analytical and numerical Evans-function techniques, we examine the spectral stability of weak-detonation-wave solutions of Majda's scalar model for a reacting gas mixture. We provide a proof of monotonicity of solutions. Using monotonicity we obtain a bound on possible unstable eigenvalues for weak-detonation-wave solutions that improves on the more general bound given by Humpherys, Lyng, and Zumbrun. We use a numerical approximation of the Evans function to search for possible unstable eigenvalues in the bounded region obtained by the energy estimate. For the parameter values tested, our results combined with the result of Lyng, Raoofi, Texier, and Zumbrun demonstrate that these waves are nonlinearly phase-asymptotically orbitally stable throughout the parameter space for which solutions were obtainable.

This dissertation focuses on the study of spectral stability in traveling waves, with a special interest in planar detonations in the multidimensional reactive Navier-Stokes equations. The chief tool is the Evans function, combined with STABLAB, a numerical library devoted to calculating the Evans function. Properly constructed, the Evans function is an analytic function in the right half-plane whose zeros correspond in multiplicity and location to the spectrum of the traveling wave. Thus the Evans function can be used to verify stability, or to locate precisely any unstable eigenvalues. We introduce a new method that uses numerical continuation to follow unstable eigenvalues as system parameters vary. We also use the Evans function to track instabilities of viscous detonations in the multidimensional reactive Navier-Stokes equations, building on recent results for detonations in one dimension. Finally, we introduce a Python implementation of STABLAB, which we hope will improve the accessibility of STABLAB and aid the future study of large, multidimensional systems by providing easy-to-use parallel processing tools.

This thesis focuses on the study of spectral stability of planar shock waves in 2-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics. We begin with a numerical approach, computing the Lopatinski determinant and Evans function with the goal of determining if there are parameters for which viscous waves are unstable and the corresponding inviscid waves are stable. We also begin developing a method to obtain an explicit, analytical representation of the Evans function. We demonstrate the capabilities of this method with compressible Navier-Stokes and extend our results to 2-D MHD. Finally, using compressible Navier-Stokes again, we derive an energy estimate as a first step in improving the bound on possible roots of the Evans function.

We develop computer-assisted methods of proof for rigorous computation of the Evans function in order to prove stability of traveling waves. We use the parameterization method, series solutions, and the Newton-Kantorovich Theorem to obtain precise, rigorous error bounds for the numerical solution of the ODE used in the construction of the Evans function. We demonstrate these methods on a scalar reaction-diffusion model and on the Gray-Scott model.