A systematic method is developed which allows one to identify certain important classes of evolution equations which can be solved by the method of inverse scattering. The form of each evolution equation is characterized by the dispersion relation of its associated linearized version and an integro‐differential operator. A comprehensive presentation of the inverse scattering method is given and general features of the solution are discussed. The relationship of the scattering theory and Backlund transformations is brought out. In view of the role of the dispersion relation, the comparatively simple asymptotic states, and the similarity of the method itself to Fourier transforms, this theory can be considered a natural extension of Fourier analysis to nonlinear problems.
We develop here two aspects of the connection between nonlinear partial differential equations solvable by inverse scattering transforms and nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODE) of P-type (i.e., no movable critical points). The first is a proof that no solution of an ODE, obtained by solving a linear integral equation of a certain kind, can have any movable critical points. The second is an algorithm to test whether a given ODE satisfies necessary conditions to be of P-type. Often, the algorithm can be used to test whether or not a given nonlinear evolution equation may be completely integrable.
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