The volume contains the text of the invited lectures presented at the International Symposium on "Nonlinear Evolution Equations Solvable by the Inverse Spectral Transform", that took place at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome from June 15 through June 18, 1977. It introduces an important mathematical technique based on the spectral transform and relevant to the solution of nonlinear evolution equations. These texts will be of particular value to theoretical physicists (in plasma, nonlinear optics, hydrodynamics, solid state and elementary particles); applied mathematicians interested in nonlinear evolution equations; and pure mathematicians interested in algebraic and differential geometry.

Spectral Transform and Solitons

The soliton represents one ofthe most important ofnonlinear phenomena in modern physics. It constitutes an essentially localizedentity with a set ofremarkable properties. Solitons are found in various areas of physics from gravitation and field theory, plasma physics, and nonlinear optics to solid state physics and hydrodynamics. Nonlinear equations which describe soliton phenomena are ubiquitous. Solitons and the equations which commonly describe them are also of great mathematical interest. Thus, the dis covery in 1967and subsequent development ofthe inversescattering transform method that provides the mathematical structure underlying soliton theory constitutes one of the most important developments in modern theoretical physics. The inversescattering transform method is now established as a very powerful tool in the investigation of nonlinear partial differential equations. The inverse scattering transform method, since its discoverysome two decades ago, has been applied to a great variety of nonlinear equations which arise in diverse fields of physics. These include ordinary differential equations, partial differential equations, integrodifferential, and differential-difference equations. The inverse scattering trans form method has allowed the investigation of these equations in a manner comparable to that of the Fourier method for linear equations.

This book will be a valuable addition to the growing literature in the area and essential reading for all researchers in the field of soliton theory.