Nonstandard characteristics and Maslov's operational method in linear problems concerning unsteady water waves (Q579535)

A simple mathematical model of linear equations for water waves in a basin of a slowly varying depth is used to illustrate the conjecture of V. P. Maslov on non-standard characteristics in asymptotic problems, this model being chosen for its physical clarity and the necessity to use the operator approach in this study. The usual system of differential equations for the velocity potential of a fluid in a gravitational field is shown to lead asymptotically to a differential-pseudodifferential equation. It is found that the formal asymptotic solutions to this equation yield asymptotic solutions of both the Cauchy-Poisson problem and the problem of wave generation by a point-like source moving along a given curve in the vertical plane. Both problems lead to nonstandard characteristic equations (Hamiltonian systems) and a wave equation with variable coefficients. The second problem is that of the Cerenkov radiation of water waves.