Geometric methods in partial differential equations (Q2070319)

In this paper, the authors study the interplay between geometry and partial differential equations. The presentation lies in the fact that throughout the paper they insist on the profound role of different aspects of classical algebraic geometry in the study of partial differential equations. They show how the fundamental ideas they use require the ability to correctly calculate the dimensions of spaces associated to the varieties of zeros of the symbols of those differential equations. This brings to the center of the analysis several classical results from algebraic geometry, including the Cayley-Bacharach theorem and some of its variants as Serret's theorem, and the Brill-Noether Restsatz theorem. This paper is organized as follows. Section 1 is an introduction to the subject and summarizes the main results. Section 2 offers a first concrete example of the ideas behind twistor theory; specifically the entire section is devoted to the use of differential geometry in partial differential equations, and the authors follow [\textit{N. J. Hitchin}, Commun. Math. Phys. 83, 579--602 (1982; Zbl 0502.58017)] to interpret the Laplace and ultra hyperbolic equations in terms of vector bundles. In Section 3 the authors first consider the case of the Laplace equation in Section 3.1, and later on they study, in Section 3.2, integral representations of general partial differential equations in three variables, whose symbols are homogeneous polynomials thus recovering the results of [loc. cit.; \textit{F. John}, Duke Math. J. 4, 300--322 (1938; JFM 64.0497.04)]. They generalize the theory of Section 3.2 to more than three variables in Section 4. The paper is supported by an appendix on the twistor correspondence and solutions of differential equations. In this appendix the authors present an interesting approach to the determination of the solutions of linear partial differential equations due to [\textit{M. K. Murray}, Math. Ann. 272, 99--115 (1985; Zbl 0548.32016)].