Propagation of analyticity in the \(C^{\infty }\) solutions of quasi-linear weakly hyperbolic wave equations (Q638744)

The author investigates the propagation of the analytic regularity of the \(C^\infty\) solutions of the quasi-linear, weakly hyperbolic wave equation \[ u_{tt}- a(u)u_{xx}= 0,\;(x, t)\in R\times[0, T), \] \[ u(x, 0)= y_0(x),\;\partial_t u(x,0)= u_1(x), \] where \(a(u)\) is a analytic function. Satisfying \(0\leq a(s)\leq \lambda\,(s\in R)\) for suitable \(\lambda> 0\). He proves that if \(u_0\), \(u_1\) are analytic in \((x_0-\varepsilon, x_0+\varepsilon)\) for some \(x_0\in R\) and for \(\varepsilon> 0\) then \(u(x, t)\) is analytic in \[ D=\{(x,t): |x-x_0|<\varepsilon- \sqrt{\lambda}t,\;0\leq t\leq T\}. \] In particular, this theorem implies that \(u(x, t)\) is analytic in \(R\times(0, T)\) if \(u_0\), \(u_1\) are analytic in \(R\).