Solutions of second-order PDEs with first-order quotients

Abstract

We describe a way of solving a partial differential equation using the differential invariants of its point symmetries. By first solving its quotient PDE, which is given by the differential syzygies in the algebra of differential invariants, we obtain new differential constraints which are compatible with the PDE under consideration. Adding these constraints to our system makes it overdetermined, and thus easier to solve. We focus on second-order scalar PDEs whose quotients are first-order scalar PDEs. This situation occurs only when the Lie algebra of symmetries of the second-order PDE is infinite-dimensional. We apply this idea to several different PDEs, one of which is the Hunter-Saxton equation.