scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1500702
Geometric theory, characteristics, transformations in context of PDEs (35A30) KdV equations (Korteweg-de Vries equations) (35Q53) Relations of infinite-dimensional Hamiltonian and Lagrangian dynamical systems with topology, geometry and differential geometry (37K25) Lie-Bäcklund and other transformations for infinite-dimensional Hamiltonian and Lagrangian systems (37K35) Correspondences and other transformation methods (e.g., Lie-Bäcklund) for PDEs on manifolds (58J72)
This paper is the introduction to a book which comprises several contributions (reviewed separately) on the relations among geometry and differential equations. That subject is of course vast; it is mainly dealt with here in the context of the revolution that has occurred over the last three decades and that was initiated by the discovery by Gardner, Greene, Kruskal and Miura of the so-called Inverse Scattering Transform (or Spectral Transform) technique to solve the initial value problem for integrable nonlinear partial differential equations. In this introductory paper this setting is outlined, and each of the papers contained in the book is tersely reviewed by outlining its results and by also analyzing their context (a quote is in this respect significant: ``Though the geometry of differential equations has a long history going back to the work of Monge, the subject has had its most significant impetus from the work of late 19th and early 20th century mathematicians such as G. Darboux (1842-1917), S. Lie (1842-1899), E. Goursat (1858-1936), W. Killing (1847-1923), A. Tresse (1868-1958), E. Cartan (1869-1951) and E. Vessiot (1865-1952), among others. The influence of Cartan to the modern formulation of the subject is the equal to Lie's\dots). One final remark: In discussing Bäcklund transformations it is stated that ``The deeper understanding of Bäcklund transformations and similar phenomena within the theory of completely integrable systems are outstanding problems of great importance. This might suggest that there is still much to understand in this respect. But while this might be the case from the geometrical point of view (which is indeed the context in which this statement is made), we submit that, in the context of the spectral transform approach, the significance of Bäcklund transformations has been completely clarified already a quarter century ago, see for instance the synthetic review in p. 11 of the book by \textit{B. G. Konopelchenko} [Nonlinear Integrable Equations, Lecture Notes in Physics 279, Springer (1987; Zbl 0628.35001)]. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0940.00006].
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