Paper 3, Section II, A

Partial Differential Equations
Part II, 2011

(a) State the local existence theorem of a classical solution of the Cauchy problem

a(x1,x2,u)ux1+b(x1,x2,u)ux2=c(x1,x2,u)uΓ=u0\begin{aligned} &a\left(x_{1}, x_{2}, u\right) \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_{1}}+b\left(x_{1}, x_{2}, u\right) \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_{2}}=c\left(x_{1}, x_{2}, u\right) \\ &\left.u\right|_{\Gamma}=u_{0} \end{aligned}

where Γ\Gamma is a smooth curve in R2\mathbb{R}^{2}.

(b) Solve, by using the method of characteristics,

2x1ux1+4x2ux2=u2u(x1,2)=h\begin{aligned} &2 x_{1} \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_{1}}+4 x_{2} \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_{2}}=u^{2} \\ &u\left(x_{1}, 2\right)=h \end{aligned}

where h>0h>0 is a constant. What is the maximal domain of existence in which uu is a solution of the Cauchy problem?