Traveling waves and weak solutions for an equation with degenerate dispersion (Q2846908)

The authors consider the following family of equations: \(u_t=2u u_{xxx}-u_x u_{xx}+2k u u_x\), where \(k \neq 0\) is a constant and \(x\) in on a finite interval \(x \in [-L_0, L_0]\). They demonstrate that for these equations there are compactly supported traveling wave solutions which are \(H^2\), and the Cauchy problem with \(H^2\) initial data possesses a weak solution which exists locally in time. These are the first degenerate dispersive evolution PDE (partial differential equation) where both of these features are known to hold simultaneously. Since many studies of degenerate dispersive equations focus on interactions between compactly supported traveling waves, it is very important to study the Cauchy problem for initial data in the same class as the traveling waves. Moreover, if \(k<0\) or \(L_0\) is not too large, the solution exists globally in time.