A Geometric View on the Generalized Proudman–Johnson and r-Hunter–Saxton Equations

Abstract

We show that two families of equations, the generalized inviscid Proudman-Johnson equation, and the $r$-Hunter-Saxton equation (recently introduced by Cotter et al.) coincide for a certain range of parameters. This gives a new geometric interpretation of these Proudman-Johnson equations as geodesic equations of right invariant homogeneous $W^{1,r}$-Finsler metrics on the diffeomorphism group. Generalizing a construction of Lenells for the Hunter-Saxton equation, we analyze these equations using an isometry from the diffeomorphism group to an appropriate subset of real-valued functions. Thereby we show that the periodic case is equivalent to the geodesic equations on the $L^r$-sphere in the space of functions, and the non-periodic case is equivalent to a geodesic flow on a flat space. This allows us to give explicit solutions to these equations in the non-periodic case, and answer several questions of Cotter et al. regarding their limiting behavior.