Contact geometry of multidimensional Monge-Ampère equations: characteristics, intermediate integrals and solutions (Q441304)

Multidimensional second-order PDEs (i.e., PDEs with \(n\) independent variables) are considered as hypersurfaces \(\varepsilon\) in the Lagrangian Grassmann bundle \(M^{(1)}\) over a \((2n+1)\)-dimensional contact manifold \((M,C)\). The main result of the paper is the following theorem. Let \(\varepsilon\subset M^{(1)}\) be a second-order PDE. Then \(\varepsilon\) is locally of the form \(\varepsilon_D\) for some \(n\)-dimensional distribution \(D\subset C\) if the following properties are satisfied. (1) Its conformal metric is decomposable, i.e., \((g\varepsilon)_{m^1}= \ell_{m^1}\vee \ell_{m^1}'\), where \(\ell_{m^1}, \ell_{m^1}'\subset L_{m^1}\) are lines. (2) If we let the point \(m^1\) vary along the fibre \(\varepsilon_m\), then the lines \(\ell_{m^1}\), \(\ell_{m^1}'\) fill two \(n\)-dimensional spaces \(D_{1m}\), \(D_{2m}\) of \(C_m\). Furthermore, \(D_1\) and \(D_2\) are mutually orthogonal \(\omega= d\theta\) and \(\varepsilon= \varepsilon_{D_1}= \varepsilon_{D_2}\).