Predictability of subluminal and superluminal wave equations

DOI10.1007/S00220-019-03428-1MaRDI QIDQ2415338zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Harvey S. Reall, Jan Sbierski, Felicity C. Eperon

Publication date 21 May 2019

Published in Communications in Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.03020

zbMATH Keywords

Born-Infeld scalarinitial dataLorentz invariantmaximal globally hyperbolic developmentssubluminalsuperluminal wave equations

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Wave equation (35L05) Applications of differential geometry to physics (53Z05) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05)

Abstract: It is sometimes claimed that Lorentz invariant wave equations which allow superluminal propagation exhibit worse predictability than subluminal equations. To investigate this, we study the Born-Infeld scalar in two spacetime dimensions. This equation can be formulated in either a subluminal or a superluminal form. Surprisingly, we find that the subluminal theory is less predictive than the superluminal theory in the following sense. For the subluminal theory, there can exist multiple maximal globally hyperbolic developments arising from the same initial data. This problem does not arise in the superluminal theory, for which there is a unique maximal globally hyperbolic development. For a general quasilinear wave equation, we prove theorems establishing why this lack of uniqueness occurs, and identify conditions on the equation that ensure uniqueness. In particular, we prove that superluminal equations always admit a unique maximal globally hyperbolic development. In this sense, superluminal equations exhibit better predictability than generic subluminal equations.

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Cited in

(3)

• The relativistic Euler equations: ESI notes on their geo-analytic structures and implications for shocks in 1D and multi-dimensions
• The geometry of maximal development and shock formation for the Euler equations in multiple space dimensions
• Recent developments in mathematical aspects of relativistic fluids

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