BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS FOR APPROXIMATE DIFFERENTIAL-EQUATIONS

A large number of mathematical models are expressed as differential equations. Such models are often derived through a slowly-varying approximation under the assumption that the domain of interest is arbitrarily large; however, typical solutions and the physical problem of interest possess finite domains. The issue is: what are the correct boundary conditions to be used at the edge of the domain for such model equations? Centre manifold theory [24] and its generalisations may be used to derive these sorts of approximations, and higher-order refinements, in an appealing and systematic fashion. Furthermore, the centre manifold approach permits the derivation of appropriate initial conditions and forcing for the models [25, 7]. Here I show how to derive asymptotically-correct boundary conditions for models which are based on the slowly-varying approximation. The dominant terms in the boundary conditions typically agree with those obtained through physical arguments. However, refined models of higher order require subtle corrections to the previously-deduced boundary conditions, and also require the provision of additional boundary conditions to form a complete model.