No label defined (Q4946142)

For second-order, complex two-dimensional, linear partial differential equations in formally hyperbolic canonical form, analytic solutions can be obtained by means of integral operators, e.g., of S. Bergman's type. Iff such operators possess polynomial kernels of degree \(2n\), the same solutions may also be generated by differential operators of order \(n\), e.g., of K. W. Bauer's type. For the existence of such operators, however, the class of equations considered must be restricted to a proper subclass. By utilizing the theory of Laplace invariants, the latter class can be characterized by necessary and sufficient conditions, and explicit representations of solutions by means of integral as well as differential operators are simultaneously obtained; cf., e.g., the reviewer and \textit{E. Kreyszig} [Methods of complex analysis in partial differential equations with applications, New York: Wiley (1988; Zbl 0644.35005)]. In the paper under review, the homogeneous linear fourth-order equation of the form \[ u_{z_1z_1z_2z_2}+ \text{lower order terms}= 0\tag{1} \] is treated by similar methods. Since already in the case of second-order equations the conditions for existence and representation of solutions by differential operators become considerably complicated with increasing \(n\), for the present case (1) this difficulty is partially overcome by prescribing ``simple'' representations of solutions, e.g., in the form \[ u_j(z_1, z_2)= \sum^{n_j}_{k= 1} c_{kj}(z_1+ z_2)^{-n_j+ k}\partial^k h_j(z_j)/\partial z^k_j,\quad j= 1,2, \] or \(u(z_1,z_2)= [f(z_1)+ z_2]^\alpha w(z_1,z_2)\), where \(h_j\) and \(f\) are holomorphic functions in suitable simply-connected complex domains, \(n_j\in \mathbb{N}\), \(\alpha\in \mathbb{R}\), \(c_{kj}\in \mathbb{C}\), and an integral representation for \(w\) is introduced by a suitable ansatz. The types of equations (1) admitting such solutions are determined. Besides, two further special equations are investigated. In two final sections, relations between two special classes of equations of the form (1) are considered, and, for a further class, a reduction of order is utilized so that the well-known methods (see above) for second-order linear equations become applicable. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0930.00044].