The Kadomtsev-Petviashvili II equation on the half-plane

The KPII equation is an integrable nonlinear PDE in 2 + 1 dimensions (two spatial and one temporal), which arises in several physical circumstances, including fluid mechanics, where it describes waves in shallow water. It provides a multidimensional generalisation of the renowned KdV equation. In this work, we employ a novel approach recently introduced by one of the authors in connection with the Davey-Stewartson equation (Fokas (2009)[13]), in order to analyse the initial-boundary value problem for the KPII equation formulated on the half-plane. The analysis makes crucial use of the so-called d-bar formalism, as well as of the so-called global relation. A novel feature of boundary as opposed to initial value problems in 2 + 1 is that the d-bar formalism now involves a function in the complex plane which is discontinuous across the real axis. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.