Here, the dot denotes a time derivative, is the state of the system at time , and is a given vector field on . The space is the state space of the system; a point in specifies the instantaneous state of the system. We will assume that is a Banach space. When is finite dimensional, the evolution equation is a system of ODEs.
Infinite dimensional case
On the other hand, some PDEs can be regarded as evolution equations on an infinite dimensional state space (see example in Classical Field Theory). The solution is an element of an specific function space at each instant of time , yielding a curve in . In the finite dimensional case you can consider that the finite number of entries is like a function of two variables, a continuous variable and a discrete one . Now, think that the index in is substituted by in : we have an uncountable set of entries, and the derivatives of each of them needs to be related to the entries themselves. The problem in general would be intractable: how would we write infinite relations between ?
But we can restrict to special cases of "relations" between the "components" , or better said, special patterns: the derivatives of respect to . For example, would play the role of an infinite collection of expressions analogous to ... See xournal_210.
So an evolution equation, in this context, is an expression
measures the variation of at in the direction of the flow created by . We could even write a kind of Lie series
In particular if is the identity, we have a formal solution to the evolution equation.
On the other hand, suppose that the evolutionary vector field is a symmetry of an ODE , that is,
The differential function can be though as a kind of first integral for the evolution equation. Indeed, if is of order, let's say, 2, then we can think of it like first integrals...
xournal_210
And I wonder, can any evolution equation be characterized by 2 second-order ODEs? It would be like an implicit expression of the PDE...
And another question: in the context above, is a conservation law of