On equivariant binary differential equations

Abstract

This paper introduces the study of occurrence of symmetries in binary differential equations (BDEs). These are implicit differential equations given by the zeros of a quadratic 1-form, $a(x,y)dy^2 + b(x,y)dxdy + c(x,y)dx^2 = 0,$ for $a, b, c$ smooth real functions defined on an open set of $\mathbb{R}^2$. Generically, solutions of a BDE are given as leaves of a pair of foliations, and the appropriate way to define the action of a symmetry must depend not only whether it preserves or inverts the plane orientation, but also whether it preserves or interchanges the foliations. The first main result reveals this dependence, which is given algebraically by a formula relating three group homomorphisms defined on the symmetry group of the BDE. The second main result adapts algebraic methods from invariant theory for representations of compact Lie groups on the space of quadratic forms on $\mathbb{R}^n$, $n \geq 2$. With that we obtain an algorithm to compute general expressions of quadratic forms. Now, symmetric quadratic 1-forms are in one-to-one corrspondence with equivariant quadratic forms on the plane, so these are treated here as a particular case. We then apply the result to obtain the general forms of equivariant quadratic 1-forms under each compact subgroup of the orthogonal group $\mathbf{O}(2)$.