The Cauchy problem for hyperbolic operators with triple involutive characteristics (Q2367109)

It is well known that the Cauchy problem in the \(C^ \infty\) category for hyperbolic linear differential operators whose principal symbol has characteristics of varying multiplicities is, in general, not well-posed unless some Levi conditions on the lower order terms are imposed. When the characteristics have order at most three some results have been proved in [\textit{E. Bernardi} and \textit{A. Bove}, Proc. Japan Acad., Ser. A 64, No. 10, 364-366 (1988; Zbl 0687.35053)] where an extension of the non effectively hyperbolic case has been dealt with. In these results the operator was assumed to have a localisation at triple characteristic points which factors out as the product of a real linear hyperbolic form and a quadratic form. In this paper we want to state necessary and sufficient conditions for the Cauchy problem to be well posed for a model equation in which this factorization property does not hold anymore, i.e. in which we have genuine triple characteristics.