Contact Geometry and Nonlinear Differential Equations

Alexei Kushner is a Professor and Dean of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, and a Senior Researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Valentin Lychagin is a Professor at the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, Tromsø University, and a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics in Moscow. Vladimir Rubtsov is a Professor at the Département de Mathématiques, Angers University, and a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics in Moscow.

• Introduction; Part I. Symmetries and Integrals: 1. Distributions; 2. Ordinary differential equations; 3. Model differential equations and Lie superposition principle; Part II. Symplectic Algebra: 4. Linear algebra of symplectic vector spaces; 5. Exterior algebra on symplectic vector spaces; 6. A Symplectic classification of exterior 2-forms in dimension 4; 7. Symplectic classification of exterior 2-forms; 8. Classification of exterior 3-forms on a 6-dimensional symplectic space; Part III. Monge-Ampère Equations: 9. Symplectic manifolds; 10. Contact manifolds; 11. Monge-Ampère equations; 12. Symmetries and contact transformations of Monge-Ampère equations; 13. Conservation laws; 14. Monge-Ampère equations on 2-dimensional manifolds and geometric structures; 15. Systems of first order partial differential equations on 2-dimensional manifolds; Part IV. Applications: 16. Non-linear acoustics; 17. Non-linear thermal conductivity; 18. Meteorology applications; Part V. Classification of Monge-Ampère Equations: 19. Classification of symplectic MAEs on 2-dimensional manifolds; 20. Classification of symplectic MAEs on 2-dimensional manifolds; 21. Contact classification of MAEs on 2-dimensional manifolds; 22. Symplectic classification of MAEs on 3-dimensional manifolds.

'As a whole, (together with the many and very clearly worked out examples presented, which is one of the most important and highly appreciated merits of this book) the text is well written, very well organised and the exposition is very clear. So, I would allow myself to recommend it as a very useful stand-by introduction to the geometric view on linear and nonlinear differential equations.' Journal of Geometry and Symmetry in Physics