Singularities of a variational wave equation (Q1923664)

The authors analyze the formation of singularities in the solutions to variational wave equations of the form \[ u_{tt} - c(u)(c(u)u_x)_x=0. \] Such equations were originally proposed (by the reviewer) as interesting for the study of microscopic effects in nematic liquid crystals, where short time inertial behaviour could be significant. A consequence of the form of the Oseen-Franck potential function is that the function \(c(u)\) has a form such as \(\alpha\cos^2 u +\beta\sin^2 u\), where \(\alpha,\beta \geq 0\). The principal result of this work is to show that for \(c(u)\in C^2(\mathbb{R}),\) with \(c(u)\) bounded above and below by positive constants and \(c'(z)\neq 0\) for some \(z\), there exist initial data for which smooth solutions break down after a finite time.