Systems of conservation laws of Temple class, equations of associativity and linear congruences in projective space

Abstract

We propose a geometric correspondence between (a) linearly degenerate systems of conservation laws with rectilinear rarefaction curves and (b) congruences of lines in projective space whose developable surfaces are planar pencils of lines. We prove that in projective 4-space such congruences are necessarily linear. Based on the results of Castelnuovo, the classification of three-component systems is obtained, revealing a close relationship of the problem with projective geometry of the Veronese variety and the theory of associativity equations of two-dimensional topological field theory.