Solutions near singular points to the eikonal and related first-order nonlinear partial differential equations in two independent variables.

Authors Emil Cornea, Ralph Howard, P. G. Martinsson

Publication date 20 November 2002

Published in Differential and Integral Equations (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0001172

Abstract: A detailed study of solutions to the first order partial differential equation H(x,y,z_x,z_y)=0, with special emphasis on the eikonal equation z_x^2+z_y^2=h(x,y), is made near points where the equation becomes singular in the sense that dH=0, in which case the method of characteristics does not apply. The main results are that there is a strong lack of uniqueness of solutions near such points and that solutions can be less regular than both the function H and the initial data of the problem, but that this loss of regularity only occurs along a pair of curves through the singular point. The main tools are symplectic geometry and the Sternberg normal form for Hamiltonian vector fields.

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