Well-posedness for the dispersive Hunter-Saxton equation

Abstract

This article represents a first step towards understanding the well-posedness for the dispersive Hunter-Saxton equation. This problem arises in the study of nematic liquid crystals, and although the equation has formal similarities with the KdV equation, the lack of $L^2$ control gives it a quasilinear character, with only continuous dependence on initial data. Here, we prove the local and global well-posedness of the Cauchy problem using a normal form approach to construct modified energies, and frequency envelopes in order to prove the continuous dependence with respect to the initial data.