Initial-boundary value problems for linear PDEs with variable coefficients

Abstract A new approach for studying initial-boundary value problems for linear partial differential equations (PDEs) with variable coefficients was introduced recently by the second author, and was applied to PDEs involving second order derivatives. Here, we extend this approach further to solve an initial-boundary value problem for a third-order evolution PDE with a space-dependent coefficient. The analysis is presented in such a way that it can be applied to PDEs with higher derivatives, and thus provides a method for solving initial-boundary value problems for a certain class of linear evolution equations with variable coefficients of arbitrary order.