Global well-posedness for 2D nonlinear wave equations without compact support (Q1749937)

In a seminal work [Invent. Math. 145, No. 3, 597--618 (2001; Zbl 1112.35341)], \textit{S. Alinhac} proved the global existence of classical solutions for the Cauchy problem of 2-D quasilinear wave equations with small initial data. Alinhac's proof heavily relies on the Lorentz invariance of the equation and the compact support assumption of the initial data. This paper focuses on the problem of how to remove the compact support assumption of the initial data. There are two key and important observations in this work. The authors' first observation is that if the nonlinear term is fully nonlinear, then by using Alinhac's argument, the global existence can be proved for small initial data without compact support. The authors' second observation is that the above result can be applied to a class of quasilinear wave equations and the highest energy norm can be shown always small. The Lorentz invariance of the equation is employed in their argument. In \textit{S. Katayama}'s recent book [Global solutions and the asymptotic behavior for nonlinear wave equations with small initial data. Tokyo: Mathematical Society of Japan (2017; Zbl 1392.35002)], for general 2-D quasilinear wave equations satisfying null conditions, by using the Lorentz invariance of the equation, Alinhac's ghost weight energy argument and Hörmander's \(L^1-L^{\infty}\) estimate, the global existence has been proved for small initial data without compact support. Now a natural problem is how to show the global existence for general 2-D quasilinear wave equations with null conditions without using the Lorentz invariance of the equation and the compact support assumption of the initial data simultaneously.