Geometric characterization and classification of Bäcklund transformations of sine-Gordon type

Abstract

We begin by considering several properties commonly (but not universally) possessed by Backlund transformations between hyperbolic Monge-Ampere equations: wavelike nature of the underlying equations, preservation of independent variables, quasilinearity of the transformation, and autonomy of the transformation. We show that, while these properties all appear to depend on the formulation of both the underlying PDEs and the Backlund transformation in a particular coordinate system, in fact they all have intrinsic geometric meaning, independent of any particular choice of local coordinates. Next, we consider the problem of classifying Backlund transformations with these properties. We show that, apart from a family of transformations between Monge-integrable equations, there exists only a finite-dimensional family of such transformations, including the well-known family of Backlund transformations for the sine-Gordon equation. The full extent of this family is not yet determined, but our analysis has uncovered previously unknown transformations among generalizations of Liouville's equation.