Ultrahyperbolic equation

In the mathematical field of partial differential equations, the ultrahyperbolic equation is a partial differential equation for an unknown scalar function u of 2n variables x₁, ..., x_n, y₁, ..., y_n of the form

${\displaystyle {\frac {\partial ^{2}u}{\partial x_{1}^{2}}}+\cdots +{\frac {\partial ^{2}u}{\partial x_{n}^{2}}}-{\frac {\partial ^{2}u}{\partial y_{1}^{2}}}-\cdots -{\frac {\partial ^{2}u}{\partial y_{n}^{2}}}=0.\qquad \qquad (1)}$

More generally, if a is any quadratic form in 2n variables with signature (n,n), then any PDE whose principal part is ${\displaystyle a_{ij}u_{x_{i}x_{j}}}$ is said to be ultrahyperbolic. Any such equation can be put in the form 1. above by means of a change of variables.[1]

The ultrahyperbolic equation has been studied from a number of viewpoints. On the one hand, it resembles the classical wave equation. This has led to a number of developments concerning its characteristics, one of which is due to Fritz John: the John equation.

Walter Craig and Steven Weinstein recently (2008) proved that under a nonlocal constraint, the initial value problem is well-posed for initial data given on a codimension-one hypersurface.[2]

The equation has also been studied from the point of view of symmetric spaces, and elliptic differential operators.[3] In particular, the ultrahyperbolic equation satisfies an analog of the mean value theorem for harmonic functions