Shoujun, Huang

Harmonic coordinates in the string and membrane equations

In this note, we first show that the solutions to Cauchy problems for two versions of relativistic string and membrane equations are diffeomorphic. Then we investigate the coordinates transformation presented in D. X. Kong and Q. Zhang [Physica D 238, 902 (2009); see (2.20)] which plays an important role in the study on the dynamics of the motion of string in Minkowski space. This kind of transformed coordinates is harmonic coordinates, and the nonlinear relativistic string equations can be straightforwardly simplified into linear wave equations under this transformation.