Pseudo-potentials, nonlocal symmetries and integrability of some shallow water equations (Q877149)

The article provides a remarkable unifying insight into the geometrical aspects of integrability of the Korteweg-de Vries, Camassa-Holm; Hunter-Saxton equations \[ u_t= u_{xxx}+ 6uu_x,\;m_t=-m_x u- 2mu_x\,(m= u_{xx}- u),\;m_t= -m_x u- 2mu_x\,(m= u_{xx}) \] by using that they belong to the equations of pseudo-spherical type (arising from the structure equations for the Riemannian metrics of Gauss curvature \(-1\)). Then the pseudopotentials are related to the geodesics and the nonlocal symmetries to the infinitesimal deformations. The general principles are applied to the mentioned equations and then some local solutions are obtained by integration of the symmetry flows. The article includes many interesting references and can be understood by nonspecialists.