Dr. Constantin Christof, AkadR a. Z.

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  • Optimal Control of Partial Differential Equations and Variational Inequalities
  • Nonsmooth Infinite-dimensional Optimization 
  • FE-Error Estimates for Optimal Control Problems and Variational Inequalities
  • Sensitivity Analysis of Nonsmooth Problems
  • Contact Problems and Non-Newtonian Fluids
  • Neural Networks 

University Education
May 2015 - July 2018 Dr. rer. nat. (Mathematics), Technische Universität Dortmund 
Oct. 2013 - July 2014 MAST (Part III of the Mathematical Tripos), University of Cambridge
Oct. 2012 - April 2015 M.Sc. Mathematics, Technische Universität Dortmund
Oct. 2009 - Sept. 2012 B.Sc. Mathematics, Technische Universität Dortmund 
Oct. 2009 - Sept. 2012

B.Sc. Technomathematics, Technische Universität Dortmund

 

Professional Career
since Febr. 2023 Lecturer (Akademischer Rat auf Zeit), Technische Universität München (resumed)
Sept. 2022 - Febr. 2023 W2 Stand-in Professor "Applied Analysis", Universität Augsburg
Mar. 2021 - Aug. 2022 Lecturer (Akademischer Rat auf Zeit), Technische Universität München
Mar. 2018 - Febr. 2021 Research Associate, Technische Universität München
May 2015 - Febr. 2018 Research Associate, Technische Universität Dortmund
Oct. 2011 - Sept. 2013 Student Assistant, Faculty of Mathematics, Technische Universität Dortmund
Oct. 2010 - Sept. 2011

Student Assistant, Institute of Mechanics, Technische Universität Dortmund

 

Awards
Sept. 2018 Dissertation Award, Technische Universität Dortmund
Dec. 2015 Best Graduate Award (Master), Technische Universität Dortmund
Sept. 2009 Award for academic excellence by the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia

 

Winter term 2023/24

Summer term 2024

A list of previous courses can be found on TUMonline.

2023

  • Prieto Ruiz, Victor Scott: Neural Network Surrogate Models for the Localization of Sources in Semilinear Elliptic PDEs. Master thesis, 2023 more…

2022

  • Kater, Stefan: Algorithmic Solution of Elliptic Optimal Control Problems with Control Constraints by Means of the Semismooth Newton Method. Master thesis, 2022 more…
  • Neu, Sebastian: A priori Finite Elemente Fehleranalyse für das skalare Signorini Problem. Master thesis, 2022 more…

2021

  • Kowalczyk, Julia: Generalisation properties of neural networks in optimal control. Master thesis, 2021 more…

2020

  • Brandl, Lukas: Adaptive Scalarization Approaches for Multi-Objective Optimization Problems. Bachelor thesis, 2020 more…
  • Buožyte, Donata: Optimal Control of an ODE-System with Control Complementarity Constraints. Bachelor thesis, 2020 more…
  • Löwenberg Casas, Adrián: Optimal-Order A-Priori Error Estimates for the One-Dimensional Signorini Problem. Bachelor thesis, 2020 more…

2019

  • Neu, Sebastian: Simulation of the steady-state motion of a Bingham fluid in a pipe. Bachelor thesis, 2019 more…
  • Seger, Andreas: Switching time optimal control of ODE systems. Bachelor thesis, 2019 more…
  • Spatz, Bastian: Optimal Control of Hutchinson's Equation. Bachelor thesis, 2019 more…

2024

  • Alphonse, Amal; Christof, Constantin; Hintermüller, Michael; Papadopoulos, Ioannis P. A.: A Globalized Inexact Semismooth Newton Method for Nonsmooth Fixed-point Equations involving Variational Inequalities. , 2024 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin: Optimal Control of Semilinear Elliptic Partial Differential Equations with Non-Lipschitzian Nonlinearities. , 2024 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Kowalczyk, Julia: On the identification and optimization of nonsmooth superposition operators in semilinear elliptic PDEs. ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations 30, 2024, 16 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Ruiz, Victor Prieto; Hinsen, Patrick; Wiedemann, Thomas; Shutin, Dmitriy; Christof, Constantin: Gas Source Localization Using Physics-Guided Neural Networks. 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Olfaction and Electronic Nose (ISOEN), IEEE, 2024 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )

2023

  • Brokate, Martin; Christof, Constantin: Strong Stationarity Conditions for Optimal Control Problems Governed by a Rate-Independent Evolution Variational Inequality. SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization 61 (4), 2023, 2222-2250 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Kowalczyk, Julia: On the Omnipresence of Spurious Local Minima in Certain Neural Network Training Problems. Constructive Approximation 60 (2), 2023, 197-224 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Wachsmuth, Gerd: Semismoothness for Solution Operators of Obstacle-Type Variational Inequalities with Applications in Optimal Control. SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization 61 (3), 2023, 1162-1186 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Wachsmuth, Gerd: Energy Space Newton Differentiability for Solution Maps of Unilateral and Bilateral Obstacle Problems. , 2023 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )

2022

  • Christof, Constantin; Hafemeyer, Dominik: On the nonuniqueness and instability of solutions of tracking-type optimal control problems. Mathematical Control & Related Fields 12 (2), 2022, 421 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Wachsmuth, Gerd: Lipschitz Stability and Hadamard Directional Differentiability for Elliptic and Parabolic Obstacle-Type Quasi-variational Inequalities. SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization 60 (6), 2022, 3430-3456 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )

2021

  • Christof, Constantin: On the Stability Properties and the Optimization Landscape of Training Problems with Squared Loss for Neural Networks and General Nonlinear Conic Approximation Schemes. Journal of Machine Learning Research 22 (263), 2021, 1-77 more… BibTeX
  • Christof, Constantin; Meyer, Christian; Schweizer, Ben; Turek, Stefan: Strong Stationarity for Optimal Control of Variational Inequalities of the Second Kind. In: International Series of Numerical Mathematics. Springer International Publishing, 2021 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Müller, Georg: Multiobjective optimal control of a non-smooth semilinear elliptic partial differential equation. ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations 27, 2021, S13 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Vexler, Boris: New regularity results and finite element error estimates for a class of parabolic optimal control problems with pointwise state constraints. ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations 27, 2021, 4 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )

2020

  • Christof, Constantin: Gradient-Based Solution Algorithms for a Class of Bilevel Optimization and Optimal Control Problems with a Nonsmooth Lower Level. SIAM Journal on Optimization 30 (1), 2020, 290-318 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; De los Reyes, Juan Carlos; Meyer, Christian: A Nonsmooth Trust-Region Method for Locally Lipschitz Functions with Application to Optimization Problems Constrained by Variational Inequalities. SIAM Journal on Optimization 30 (3), 2020, 2163-2196 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Haubner, Christof: Finite element error estimates in non-energy norms for the two-dimensional scalar Signorini problem. Numerische Mathematik 145 (3), 2020, 513-551 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Wachsmuth, Gerd: On second-order optimality conditions for optimal control problems governed by the obstacle problem. Optimization 70 (10), 2020, 2247-2287 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )

2019

  • Christof, Constantin: Sensitivity Analysis and Optimal Control of Obstacle-Type Evolution Variational Inequalities. SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization 57 (1), 2019, 192-218 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Wachsmuth, Gerd: Differential Sensitivity Analysis of Variational Inequalities with Locally Lipschitz Continuous Solution Operators. Applied Mathematics & Optimization 81 (1), 2019, 23-62 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )

2018

  • Christof, Constantin; Meyer, Christian: Sensitivity Analysis for a Class of $H_0^1$ -Elliptic Variational Inequalities of the Second Kind. Set-Valued and Variational Analysis 27 (2), 2018, 469-502 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Meyer, Christian; Walther, Stephan; Clason, Christian: Optimal control of a non-smooth semilinear elliptic equation. Mathematical Control & Related Fields 8 (1), 2018, 247-276 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Müller, Georg: A Note on the Equivalence and the Boundary Behavior of a Class of Sobolev Capacities. GAMM-Mitteilungen 40 (3), 2018, 238-266 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Wachsmuth, Gerd: On the Non-Polyhedricity of Sets with Upper and Lower Bounds in Dual Spaces. GAMM-Mitteilungen 40 (4), 2018, 339-350 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Wachsmuth, Gerd: No-Gap Second-Order Conditions via a Directional Curvature Functional. SIAM Journal on Optimization 28 (3), 2018, 2097-2130 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )

2017

  • Christof, Constantin: $L^\infty$-error estimates for the obstacle problem revisited. Calcolo 54 (4), 2017, 1243-1264 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )
  • Christof, Constantin; Meyer, Christian: A note on a priori $L^p$-error estimates for the obstacle problem. Numerische Mathematik 139 (1), 2017, 27-45 more… BibTeX Full text ( DOI )

PhD-Thesis (Dr. rer. nat.)
Sensitivity Analysis of Elliptic Variational Inequalities of the First and the Second Kind

Technische Universität Dortmund, 2018

Master-Thesis (Mathematics)
A priori Fehlerabschätzungen für die FE-Diskretisierung klassischer Hindernisprobleme​​
Technische Universität Dortmund, 2015 

Bachelor-Thesis (Technomathematics)
Immersed Boundary Methods: Simulation of Flows with Moving Elastic Boundaries and Application to Cardiac Fluid Dynamics

Technische Universität Dortmund, 2012

Bachelor-Thesis (Mathematics)
Das Additionstheorem für Jacobi-Polynome

Technische Universität Dortmund, 2012

Presentations at Conferences

Semismoothness for Solution Operators of Obstacle-type Variational Inequalities with Applications in Optimal Control. Computational Methods in Applied Mathematics (CMAM 2022), Vienna, 08/2022.
Semismoothness for Solution Operators of Obstacle-type Variational Inequalities with Applications in Optimal Control. IFIP TC7 System Modeling and Optimization, Warsaw, 07/2022.
Analysis and Numerical Solution of a Control Problem Arising in Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. SIAM Conference on Optimization, Spokane, 07/2021.
Analysis and Numerical Solution of a Control Problem Arising in Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. Annual Meeting of GAMM, Kassel, 03/2021.
Optimal Control of Stationary and Instationary Rotationally Symmetric Viscoplastic Fluid Flows. Annual Meeting of DMV, Chemnitz, 09/2020.
A Priori Error Estimates in Non-Energy Norms and the Aubin-Nitsche Trick for the Two-Dimensional Scalar Signorini Problem. ENUMATH, Egmond aan Zee, 10/2019.
On Second-Order Optimality Conditions for Optimal Control Problems Governed by the Obstacle Problem. FGS, Nizza, 09/2019.
New Regularity Results for a Class of Parabolic Optimal Control Problems with Pointwise State Constraints. ICCOPT, Berlin, 08/2019.
Gradient-Based Solution Algorithms for a Class of Bilevel Optimization and Optimal Control Problems with a Non-Smooth Lower Level. ICIAM, Valencia, 07/2019.
Gradient-Based Solution Algorithms for a Class of Bilevel Optimization and Optimal Control Problems with a Non-Smooth Lower Level. Annual Meeting of GAMM, Wien, 02/2019.
Sensitivity Analysis and Optimal Control of Obstacle-Type Evolution Variational Inequalities. CESVVAM, Marburg, 11/2018.
A Priori Error Estimates in Non-Energy Norms for the Two-Dimensional Scalar Signorini Problem. Chemnitz FEM Symposium, Chemnitz, 09/2018.
On Subdifferentials of PDE Solution Operators. Optimization, Lissabon, 09/2017.
An Approach to the Differential Stability Analysis of Mosolov's Problem. SIAM Conference on Optimization, Vancouver, 05/2017.
Sensitivity Analysis for Elliptic Variational Inequalities of the Second Kind: A Model Problem and Applications in Optimal Control. ICCOPT, Tokyo, 08/2016.
Sensitivity Analysis for Elliptic Variational Inequalities of the Second Kind: A Model Problem and Applications in Optimal Control. Joint Annual Meeting of GAMM and DMV, Braunschweig, 03/2016.

A Priori Lp-Error Analysis for the Obstacle Problem. Chemnitz FEM Symposium, Burgstädt, 09/2015.

 

Seminar and Workshop Talks

Semismoothness for Solution Operators of Obstacle-type Variational Inequalities with Applications in Optimal Control. Joint Analysis Seminar Augsburg-München, Augsburg, 10/2022.
New Regularity Results and Finite Element Error Estimates for Parabolic Optimal Control Problems with Pointwise State Constraints. Research Seminar, München, 12/2020.
New Regularity Results and Finite Element Error Estimates for a Class of Parabolic Optimal Control Problems with Pointwise State Constraints. Annual Meeting of IGDK1754, Augsburg, 11/2019.
No-Gap Second-Order Optimality Conditions for Bang-Bang Optimal Control Problems via Second Subderivatives. RICAM Special Semester on Optimization, Linz, 11/2019.
Sensitivity Analysis and Optimal Control of Obstacle-Type Evolution Variational Inequalities. Spreewald-Workshop on Optimal Control, Vetschau, 09/2019.
New Regularity Results and Finite Element Error Estimates for a Class of Parabolic Optimal Control Problems with Pointwise State Constraints. Research Seminar, Chemnitz, 05/2019.
A Priori Error Estimates in Non-Energy Norms and the Aubin-Nitsche Trick for the Two-Dimensional Scalar Signorini Problem. Research Seminar, Dortmund, 04/2019.
On Second-Order Optimality Conditions for Optimal Control Problems Governed by the Classical Obstacle Problem. OCIP, München, 03/2019.
Sensitivity Analysis and Optimal Control of Obstacle-Type Evolution Variational Inequalities. Research Seminar, Konstanz, 02/2019.
Gradient-Based Solution Algorithms for a Class of Bilevel Optimization and Optimal Control Problems with a Non-Smooth Lower Level. Research Seminar, Cottbus, 12/2018.
Gradient-Based Solution Algorithms for a Class of Bilevel Optimization and Optimal Control Problems with a Non-Smooth Lower Level. Annual Meeting of IGDK1754, Graz, 11/2018.
P16 - Optimal Control of Variational Inequalities of the Second Kind with Application to Yield Stress Fluids. Annual Meeting of SPP1962, Kremmen, 10/2017.
An Approach to the Differential Stability Analysis of Mosolov’s Problem. Research Seminar, Chemnitz, 07/2017.
On Subdifferentials of PDE Solution Operators: A Model Problem and Applications in Optimal Control. OCIP, München, 04/2017.
How to Calculate the Subdifferential of the Solution Operator to a Nonsmooth PDE - A Model Problem and Applications in Optimal Control. Workshop on Variational Analysis and Optimization, Mariànskà, 02/2017.
Sensitivity Analysis for Elliptic Variational Inequalities of the Second Kind: A Model Problem and Applications in Optimal Control. Research Seminar, Bayreuth, 09/2016.
Sensitivity Analysis for a Class of Nonsmooth Minimization Problems in Sobolev Spaces. IFIP Workshop: Optimal Control Meets Inverse Problems, Essen, 09/2016.
Sensitivity Analysis for Elliptic Variational Inequalities of the Second Kind: A Model Problem and Applications in Optimal Control. Research Seminar, Essen, 02/2016.