On a global in time existence theorem of smooth solutions to a nonlinear wave equation with viscosity (Q1318107)

We prove the global in time existence of smooth solutions to a nonlinear wave equation with linear viscosity describing the motion of a fixed membrane with viscosity for any smooth initial data. In our approach, the key is to prove the local in time existence of smooth solutions to the nonlinear wave equation with linear viscosity of the form: \(u_{tt}- A(u)-Bu_ t=0\), in a bounded or unbounded domain with zero Dirichlet condition, where \(A(u)\) is a quasilinear operator of second order and \(B\) is a linear elliptic operator of second order. To solve the problem, we can not use the fractional power of the operator \(B\) with zero Dirichlet condition, because its domain is not clear. We use the following simple linearization procedure. Differentiation in the time variable \(t\) yields the equation \(v_{tt}-A'(u) v-Bv_ t=0\) for \(v=u_ t\). This is combined with the equation \(v_ t-A(u)- Bu_ t=0\). Applying \(L^ p\) theories of linear elliptic equations and linear parabolic equations to the operator \(B\) and to the operator \(\partial_ t-B\), respectively, and using the usual successive approximation, our local in time existence theorem is proved.