Characteristics with singularities and the boundary values of the asymptotic solution of the Cauchy problem for a degenerate wave equation

Abstract

We consider the Cauchy problem with spatially localized initial data for the twodimensional wave equation degenerating on the boundary of the domain. This problem arises, in particular, in the theory of tsunami wave run-up on a shallow beach. Earlier, S. Yu. Dobrokhotov, V. E. Nazaikinskii, and B. Tirozzi developed a method for constructing asymptotic solutions of this problem. The method is based on a modified Maslov canonical operator and on characteristics (trajectories) unbounded in the momentum variables; such characteristics are nonstandard from the viewpoint of the theory of partial differential equations. In a neighborhood of the velocity degeneration line, which is a caustic of a special form, the canonical operator is defined via the Hankel transform, which arises when applying Fock’s quantization procedure to the canonical transformation regularizing the above-mentioned nonstandard characteristics in a neighborhood of the velocity degeneration line (the boundary of the domain). It is shown in the present paper that the restriction of the asymptotic solutions to the boundary is determined by the standard canonical operator, which simplifies the asymptotic formulas for the solution on the boundary dramatically; for initial perturbations of special form, the solutions can be expressed via simple algebraic functions.