Bäcklund transformations for general PDE's (Q1075492)

A Bäcklund transformation (BT) is defined as a map of jet spaces \(J^{k-1}(M,N)\times \bar N\to J^ 1(\bar M,\bar N)\) satisfying certain integrability conditions. Here, \(M,\bar M\) and \(N,\bar N\) are manifolds of independent and dependent variables for the equations related by the transformation. Substituting N and \(\bar N\) by their Cartesian powers, we arrive at what is called the multi-copy approach. These definitions provide a basis for a general theory of BT's incorporating previous investigations for quasi-linear PDE's and PDE's with 2 independent variables. This allows, in particular, to state necessary conditions on PDE's having a BT. As an example, the equation [\textit{J. F. Plebanski}, J. Math. Phys. 16, 2395-2402 (1975)] \[ \Theta_{xx}\Theta_{yy}- \Theta^ 2_{xy}+ \Theta_{xu}+ \Theta_{yv}=0 \] is considered and shown to have no 1-copy BT.