The overdetermined Cauchy problem for the hyperbolic Gellerstedt equation

Abstract Overdetermined boundary value problems and the minimal operators generated by them are extremely important in the description of regular boundary value problems for differential equations, and are also widely used in the study of local properties of solutions. In addition, for inverse problems of mathematical physics arising from applications, when determining unknown data, it is necessary to study problems with overdetermined boundary conditions, which is reflected in the study of problems, including for hyperbolic equations and systems, arising in physics, geophysics, seismic tomography, geoelectrics, electrodynamics, medicine, ecology, economics and many other practical areas. Thus, the study of overdetermined boundary value problems is of both theoretical and applied interest. In this paper, a criterion for the regular solvability of the overdetermined Cauchy problem for the Gellerstedt equation and the minimal differential operator generated by it in a hyperbolic domain is established, as which both the case of a characteristic triangle and the case of a more general domain with fairly general assumptions about the boundary of the domain are considered. Due to overdetermined boundary conditions, the problem under consideration will be ill-posed in the general case, therefore, for its regular solvability, additional conditions must be imposed on the initial data. In other words, we have considered the inverse problem: to determine what requirements the initial data of the problem, in particular the right part of the Gellerstedt equation, should meet, in question, so that the overdetermined Cauchy problem is regularly solvable. The proof is based on the Gellerstedt potential, the properties of solutions of the Goursat problem in the characteristic triangle, and the properties of special functions.