A $\mathcal C^\infty$-structure-based approach to traveling wave solutions of the gKdV equation

Abstract

A novel geometric method is applied to the problem of describing traveling wave solutions of the generalized Korteweg--de Vries (gKdV) equation in the form $$ u_t + u_{xxx} + a(u)u_x = 0, $$ where $a(u)$ is a smooth function characterizing the nonlinearity. Using the traveling wave ansatz, the gKdV equation reduces to an ordinary differential equation (ODE), which we analyze via the $\mathcal{C}^\infty$-structure-based method, a geometric framework involving sequences of involutive distributions and Pfaffian equations. Starting with the symmetry $\partial_z$, we construct a $\mathcal{C}^\infty$-structure for the ODE and apply the stepwise integration algorithm to obtain an implicit general solution. Then we derive explicit solutions for specific forms of $a(u)$, including the modified KdV and Schamel--KdV equations, as well as power-law nonlinearities.