Symmetry, compatibility and exact solutions of PDEs

Abstract

We discuss various compatibility criteria for overdetermined systems of PDEs generalizing the approach to formal integrability via brackets of differential operators. Then we give sufficient conditions that guarantee that a PDE possessing a Lie algebra of symmetries has invariant solutions with respect to this Lie algebra. These conditions hold for generic=nondegenerate pairs (equation,symmetry) in certain dimension range for the Lie algebra. Finally we discuss models of equations with large symmetry algebras, which eventually lead to integration in closed form.